


Take the Left

by anonymouscatt



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 17:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20643038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anonymouscatt/pseuds/anonymouscatt
Summary: There were two levers in the Ghost Shift Room, one on the left, the other on the right. The Doctor took the lever on the left. Years later, a Fortune Teller on Shan Shen gives him the opportunity to choose again. Consequences? You bet.





	1. Fortune's Fool

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost of a fic I wrote a decade ago and posted on FF.net. Now that I have an ao3 account I wanted to move some works over, and even though it's old this happens to be one of the works I'm most proud of myself for finishing- an actual multichapter fic! It's not perfect but I'm fond of it and wanted it to have a place on my new profile, so... here we go!

“Tell your fortune, handsome visitor?”

Her offer was just one of many, calling out in the bustle and chaos in the market of Shan Shen. Every which way one turns, someone is selling something: rich clothes and silk, incense, expensive delicacies imported from off world. The young woman of apparent Asian heritage is no different, just out to make a profit off of unsuspecting tourists. Somehow her voice breaks through the cacophony of the marketplace, there’s a certain power in it.

“Not today, thanks,” the Doctor answers, amused. Like he needs a scam artist, however clever, to tell him about the future.

“Don’t you want to know your future? If you’re going to be happy… maybe even find true love?”

That last sentence results in a sharp pang of regret, but with practiced patience he shoves it away. “I’m happy now, thanks very much.”

The woman smiles and glances around. “I’m not busy at the moment, and you’re pretty. What if I do you for free?”

She isn’t going to relent, he can tell, and Donna is probably going to take all day at that stall with the handbags. He gives in. “All right, one quick reading.” He wonders what kind of rubbish this one will spout. Excepting those soothsayers back in Pompeii, he’s never come across anyone who could accurately predict the future without having been there in person. It will probably be generic, vague predictions that could apply to anyone… still, he’s got nothing better to do at the moment.

Inside the tent, they sit, and the fortune teller instructs him to give her his hands, palms up. Typical. She gazes at his palms, acting for all the world like she really can see the mysteries of the future in them, tracing lines with her fingertips.

“You are fascinating… you have one of the longest lifelines I have ever seen. Hhhhmm… I see a woman, with fiery red hair, and a temper to match.”

He chuckles. “She does, yeah.”

“How did you meet her?” the woman questions.

He leans forward. “Why don’t you tell me?”

The look she gives him is condescending. “I see the future. You must tell me about the past. When did your lives cross?”

“Weeell, she sort of appeared on my ship, plucked right from the middle of her wedding… long story, very complicated.”

“Ah,” she breathes, acting entirely understanding. “But what were you doing, just before that? Right before she ‘appeared’, as you say?”

“I was… saying goodbye…” The memory is vivid, and painful. A windswept beach, a blond woman with a tearstained face, words he never had the chance to say. All in one amazingly vivid flash, almost like time-travel in itself.

He is jerked back to the present. “Sorry,” he gasps, trying to regain composure. How did he lose it so quickly?

“It’s the incense,” the woman says, waving vaguely. “Just… breathe deep.” Something tells him this is the last thing he should be doing. This is more than your average scam artist; something is going on here. But he’s got to find out what, so he keeps going with it.

“You said you were saying goodbye. I sense a great deal of loss- you cared for her, yes?”

“Oh yes,” he murmurs, wondering why he is telling this stranger about it. But he doesn’t want to worry, think, he just wants to remember her: the smell of her shampoo, her smile, that lilting laugh- gone forever.

“How did it happen? How did you lose her, what choices caused her to slip away?”

“I don’t know… all sorts of things happened that day, busy life… but there was a moment…”

Again the memory is sharp, and oh so real. He is in the white room, the ghost shift room, and Rose is there. He grins at the sight of her.

“That’s more like it, bit of a smile!” she laughs. Happy. Alive. _Here._ “The old team!”

“Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake!” he jokes along with her.

“Which one’s Shiver?” she asks, unsure.

“Oh, I’m Shake,” he grins. Then…

She’s gone, suddenly, and reality collapses back on him with unbearable force. The fortune teller’s voice cuts into his thoughts. “You could have gone to one side, or the other. What made you decide?”

“I… I just did…” He can hear something, if he concentrates. Something behind him, and it probably isn’t good, but he can’t force himself to turn around.

“But when was the moment? When did you choose?”

Back to that room. He’s holding the clamps; he’s passing one to Rose. They attach the clamps to the walls, on either side. “Press the red button,” he instructs her. “When it starts, just hold on tight. It shouldn’t be too bad for us, but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Voidstuff. You ready?”

He isn’t, he could never be ready. He can remember only too well what happens next. Her lever slips, she tries to fix it, but she can’t quite reach, the pull is too strong and she slips away forever.

“You took the left,” croons the fortune teller. “But what if you had taken the right, what if it was your lever that slipped? What then?” How does she know this?

“Let go of my hands,” he whispers. He can’t do it himself, can’t turn around, can’t look away. He is powerless, and at the same time power is being given back to him. Power to change the past, and he doesn’t know if he fears it or yearns for it.

“What if it changes? What if you took the right… what if you could _still_ take the right?”

“Stop…” But it is a weak plea. He _wants_ this moment to change. He wants it so badly, his hands are shaking but she’s clasping them so tightly, she has so much more power than he thought… He can feel something. Something creeping up his spine, but he can’t turn around, can’t shake it off.

“What… what is that? There’s something, something on my back… what are you doing?”

She doesn’t answer, just continues speaking in that hypnotic voice. “Make the choice again, Doctor, and take the right.”

“I… I’m choosing…”

“Take the right side. Go right_, go right!_”

It’s happening again. All of it.

“Which one’s Shiver?” she asks, unsure.

“Oh, I’m Shake,” he grins. He passes her the clamp, then keeps going, and presses his against the right side of the room. She moves and attaches hers to the left.

He can almost hear an echo, of a voice, but it’s fading fast. _“Take the right, and never meet Donna Noble. Take the right… and change the world!”_

He shakes it off. “Press the red button,” he instructs her. “When it starts, just hold on tight. It shouldn’t be too bad for us, but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Voidstuff. You ready?”

“So are they,” Rose points out, nodding towards the Daleks in the window.

“Let’s do it!” He cries, and together they push the levers up, until they lock into place, then run and grab on to the clamps. At first everything goes smashingly, particularly for the Daleks and Cybermen, which are careening all over the place before being pulled into the Void. A little too smashingly, actually, he realizes when a stray Dalek smashes into his lever, knocking it out of position.

“Offline,” remarks the computer. That’s going to be a problem. The pull is weakening, the Daleks stalling; he has to make sure they get pulled in. _It’s a good thing it happened on my side,_ he thinks, _my legs are longer than Rose’s._

Worriedly, she calls out, “Doctor, the lever!”

“Working on it,” he responds, stretching out a leg. He hooks his shoe beneath one of the wires attached to the lever, and pulls back. Just a bit more, and the lever is back in position. “Online and locked,” reports the computer as he renews his grasp on the clamp.

From then on it’s a simple job, just hang on and watch the show. The Daleks and Cybermen are effortlessly disposed of. Soon the breach into the Void collapses in on itself, “Systems Closed,” and it’s time for another celebratory hug.

And if something feels off, if his sixth-sense is telling him this is not how it should have happened, well, it has to be wrong. It has to.

Because he’s the Doctor. In the TARDIS. With Rose Tyler. As it should be.

Right?


	2. Consequences

The smallest of events can have the largest impact on the world.

In another timeline, a call was sent across the Void, using all the power of a dying star to cry out. That enormously powerful energy echoed across time and space, like calling to like, and quite by chance latched on to ancient particles, pulling them back to the origin of the call. It was the end of one tale and the beginning of another.

_Flux._

No longer is the call necessary. A sinister plan, once prevented, is now carried out. That tale is over before it can even begin.

* * *

When they get back to the TARDIS, Rose is eager to get moving again. Another place, another time, and preferably another planet. The Doctor obliges, anything to keep her happy. He doesn’t want her to regret the choice she’s made, leaving Jackie permanently. She insists she’d rather be with him any day, no regrets, but the truth is her only family is beyond her reach now and that’s going to take some getting used to.

So they keep busy in their own way, dashing from disaster to narrow escape to saving the world, and for a while Rose doesn’t have to think about what she’s lost. Eventually, though, she decides that she wants to pick up some things from her flat, do some shopping. She insists she’ll be alright. Thinking that it would be too painful to arrive around Christmas, a time most humans spent with their families, the Doctor has them arrive in early January.

Except they seem to have missed something. He’s forgotten the tendency of aliens to invade on Christmas Day. To add insult to injury, since the TARDIS has landed and they’re now part of events, he can’t go back to fix things. Luckily, they human race seems to have been able to take care of itself, for once.

Rose is appalled. “We should have been here,” she insists. “We could have done something…”

“It turned out all right, though,” he says awkwardly, trying to comfort her. He too feels guilty about letting this slip, but even with a time machine he can’t be everywhere at once.

“But people died, Doctor. We could have stopped it, we…”

“Rose, even if we’d been here, people still could have died. Some days everybody lives, yes, but… but not every day,” he finishes lamely.

“I know,” she sighs, letting her head rest on his shoulder. “Let’s just, get my stuff and get out of here, yeah? Don’t really feel like hanging around, after all.”

He sets the coordinates for the Powell Estate, easy as anything, and they step out into the overcast January morning. “Hold on,” says Rose, “Forgot my bag. I’ll only be a minute, you go on ahead, here’s the key.”

“Right.” He heads on up to Rose’s floor, key in hand, ready to get what they’re after and go. He hates seeing Rose unhappy.

He’s about to put the key in the lock when a woman calls out to him from a few doors down. He glances over. “What is it?”

“Who are you then, trying to get into an empty flat?” The woman demands angrily.

“Empty?” He asks in confusion, looking at the door again. “I thought the Tylers lived here.”

Her face softens. “Are you a friend?”

“Old family friend, yeah. Why?”

“I’m sorry,’ she murmurs. “But… they’re dead. That business with the metal men a few months back, the city in ruins… they died, like so many others.” For once, he can’t think of anything to say, just stands there, realizing he should have thought of this. The woman notices his expression and says kindly, “There’s a memorial down at the cemetery, for those who were lost… no graves, obviously, so many bodies never found. But there’s a list of the dead, if you’d like to go and pay your respects. I truly am sorry,” she whispers, closing the door.

Slowly he puts the key in his pocket and trudges down the stairs. Rose meets him at the bottom, bag in hand, slightly confused. “What’s wrong?” she asks, looking past him. “What is it?”

He puts a hand on her shoulder and leads her away, back towards the TARDIS. “I’m sorry, Rose, it’s my fault, but we can fix it. We’ll go see someone in authority, they can’t deny that you’re alive…”

“Doctor, what are you on about?” she demands.

He turns to face her. “Rose… the world thinks you’re dead. You and Jackie disappeared, right after Canary Warf. So many people died that day and they think you did too, your name is on a memorial in the cemetery… but we can remedy that right now, we can…”

Her shocked silence gives way to a “No.”

He stares. “What?”

“No, don’t… don’t tell ‘em I’m still alive.” She clutches her coat tighter to herself and mumbles, “My friends… if they think I’m dead, they’ve done their grieving and moved on. It wouldn’t be fair to them to show up out of the blue and then disappear again, but that’s what I’d do, ‘cause I’m not planning on staying here for long.” She manages a tiny smile. “If that’s all right, but… I’d rather move on too.”

“Rose, are you sure about this?” He asks her, seriously.

“Sure as I am about anything,” she says. “But there’s one thing I’d like to do.”

“Name it.”

“I’d like to see the memorial.”

* * *

It’s a small obelisk, about five feet high, with the names of the dead inscribed on all sides. No one else is here today, not at the memorial, although there is a small funeral occurring several plots to the left. Rose pulls her coat tight around her and reaches out a hand to stroke the imbedded letters. She finds her name, and her mother’s just above it. He can see that she is close to tears and wants nothing more than to pull her into his arms and whisk her away, but she needs this. So he stands there, silent, waiting for her to be ready to leave.

Silently she puts out her hand and traces the letters carved in stone with her fingertips. Moments later her hand drops to her side, lifeless. She turns to him, her face unreadable. “Doctor, I need… I need to be alone for awhile.”

He reaches for her, wanting to comfort her, but she pulls back. “Rose…”

She shakes her head. “S’all right. I’m fine. I just need… I need an hour, all right? I’ll meet you back at the TARDIS.”

He opens his mouth to protest, but she speaks first. “Please.”

It’s not a question, it’s a statement, and he can see that nothing he can say will deter her. “Right,” he sighs, turning away. It’s the last thing he wants to do, leaving her to her grief, but he won’t argue with her now.

Briefly he contemplates going back to the TARDIS and simply skipping over this hour. But that feels too much like cheating. Besides, he’s not all that confident he could be that accurate in the return coordinates. He might end up leaving Rose here for days, rather than an hour, which wouldn’t be helpful at all.

Casting about for a distraction, he notices the funeral and decides to investigate. He trudges towards the tiny congregation, noticing that the proceedings seem to be breaking up, and wonders how this poor soul went. As the mourners begin to break away, an elderly man and an older blond woman catch his attention. The man’s nose is red, he appears to have been crying, but the woman’s face is stern, cut like ice, and reveals nothing. As they pass him, he shivers, and turns around to look behind him, but there’s nothing. _Someone’s walked over my grave,_ he thinks, halfway amused but quickly sobers when he remembers where he is.

Now everyone has left except for one outsider, a young girl with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. He remembers that she did not stand with the rest of the group, nor is she dressed in black… it suddenly seems strange that she is here. She stands there with no coat, seemingly unaffected by the weather, and simply stares at the grave with longing in her eyes. Curious now about the girl, he goes to speak with her.

She notices him and her eyes widen in recognition. Strange, but he doesn’t recognize her. Still, time-travel and all, maybe he will someday. She mumbles something incoherent, but it sounds like it was directed at him so he asks, “Sorry, what was that?”

“I…” The girl is at a loss for words, but finally comes up with, “So, you don’t… recognize me then.”

He shakes his head. “Sorry, no, not now… but events don’t always happen to me in the right order so maybe we’ll get there someday.” He grins, sticking out his hand. “I’m the Doctor, though you might already know that, and you are?”

She takes his hand tentatively, giving it one shake then letting go. “I’m just passing through. I shouldn’t even be here, really, but I had to see…”

“See what?” He glances around. “Oh, the funeral, right,” he says becoming serious again. “I’m sorry. Who… who was it?”

The girl looks at him mournfully, and for a second he feels a strong connection to her. He _knows _this girl, somehow, somewhen… Finally she answers his question.

“Her name was Donna Noble.”


	3. Wrong

The girl stares at him intently as if she expects him to recognize the name, but it doesn’t sound familiar. Not at all.

“Were you close to her then?” He asks awkwardly, wondering what he can do to ease the girl’s pain.

“Sort of,” replies the girl, looking away. “She was like both mother and sister to me, in a way. But, this Christmas, whatever happened, she got caught up in the middle of it. And it killed her.” She shakes her head in frustration. “It shouldn’t have happened!”

“I’m sorry,” he says, and for once he can’t think of anything else to say. He wonders if he should go off and leave this girl to her grief, too, but she turns and looks at him desperately.

“No, you don’t understand! This is wrong, this is so _wrong_! I can _feel_ it…” She’s staring at him again, as if she expects him to have the answers for something when he doesn’t even know the question. “Why don’t you see it too? I thought you were a Time Lord!”

He frowns at her. “I _do_ know you in the future, don’t I? Who are you?”

“Never mind that. I just can’t figure out why…” Something catches her eye and she looks at him more intently. “Hold on…” She’s looking behind him, so he turns to look too, but there’s nothing.

“What?” He asks, turning back to her.

“There’s… I can’t quite see it, but there’s something on your back…” She motions to him. “Turn round.”

“Where?” he asks, doing as she says. He turns to look, but there’s nothing on his back, just his coat, and she can’t mean that. “I don’t see anything.”

The girl looks frightened now; her eyes dart about, searching for escape. “I shouldn’t be here, I really shouldn’t. I’m probably making things worse… I’m sorry, I have to go.”

She turns to leave, but he grabs her arm. “Wait, wait, just a minute. Who _are_ you?”

“No one. Just… no one. I’ve gotta go.” She wrenches her arm out of his grip with more strength than he would have thought possible for an 18 year old girl, and dashes away down the street. She’s a good runner, and though he has had quite a lot of practice at this exercise he finds himself falling behind. So that when he finally rounds the corner, the girl is no longer there. He can sense an energy in the atmosphere, a slight distortion in the space-time continuum, and quickly realizes what has happened.

The girl has time-traveled.

* * *

And yet, according to the TARDIS scanners, there’s been no other distortion of the space-time continuum within the month they’ve landed in except, of course, for their arrival. No other time-travelers. But he clearly sensed it, the type of energy used in Vortex-manipulators worn by Time Agents. Frustrated, he slaps the edge of the scanner. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What?” asks a voice from the other side of the room. Turning, he notices Rose, just closing the doors behind her.

“Nothing. Something wrong with the scanners, that’s all.” He pushes the mystery of the strange girl to the back of his mind and focuses on Rose. “You alright?”

She gives him a bright smile that fails to be convincing, and says, “Always.”

He’s used the same line himself too many times not to know she’s lying. He sighs. “Rose, I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

“What is?” She moves closer to him, sounding concerned… about _him_, when she’s the one who has lost so much.

“Everything. I mean, your mother is gone, the world thinks you’re dead, you haven’t got a home anymore…”

“Hey.” She sidles up next to him, lacing her fingers through his. “_I_ chose this. Remember? Everyone leaves their parents when they grow up,” she says, sounded assured if a bit sad. “And as for home, well I’ve still got one. That is, unless you’re planning on kicking me out anytime soon?” This last sentence is said jokingly, but with a trace of questioning fear, as if she’s not too sure that it _is_ a joke.

He pulls her closer, into an embrace. “Never,” he assures her, hopefully assuaging any fears and doubts. After some brief moments of closeness they pull away, grinning.

“Right then. Where to next?”


	4. Whatever Happened to Martha Jones?

Time passes. It’s never quite clear how much time, which is relative anyway when you have a time machine. Suffice it to say that, though Rose doesn’t want to spend too much time on Earth anymore, she insists they check in every so often to make sure it doesn’t get into trouble. She doesn’t want a repeat of Christmas. The Doctor agrees, so they happen to be passing by at the time when a surge of energy surrounding a hospital alerts them to possible trouble.

“Seems suspicious. Think we should check it out?” asks Rose.

“Oh, definitely.” He considers. “What would you like to check in with? Stomach pains? Food poisoning?”

“Hold on, why do I have to be the patient?” demands Rose crossly. “You want me to sit in bed while you do all the investigating? Not likely.”

“Rose…” he starts but she cuts in.

“Seems like you always get the best roles. Back at that school you got to play teacher and what do I get? Dinner lady.”

He tries again. “Rose…”

“Honestly. I’d like to see you play the perfect patient and sit still for an hour for once in your life. I mean…”

“Rose!” He reaches out, grabs her hand, and pulls it to his chest. “Two hearts, remember? You’re not getting me to check into a human hospital. Likely they’d be investigating me instead of the other way around, which would not exactly be helpful, would it?”

Rose reddens and drops her gaze to where her hand still rests. On the one hand his gesture has stopped her complaining, which is a relief, on the other hand it also seems to have caused some awkwardness. He realizes he is still clutching her hand and quickly drops it.

Blushing even more deeply, Rose turns away and begins striding towards the doors. “Sorry,” she mutters, “I didn’t think.” When she reaches the door she seems to regain her composure, for she turns back and calls out, “Stomach pains, yeah?” Grinning, she ducks out into sunlight.

Shaking off the last traces of awkwardness, the Doctor follows her.

* * *

Rose decides that it’s not so boring after all, playing patient in a hospital, especially if the building in question has suddenly been transported to the moon and surrounded by rhino-like alien police. It’s a magical feeling, standing out there on the balcony and gazing at the earth up above.

“Why haven’t we done this before?” she wonders. “The TARDIS has got shielding, we could have come to the moon long ago! Why didn’t I think of it?”

The Doctor stares at her. “The TARDIS can go anywhere in time and space, whole galaxies away, and you’re wondering why I haven’t taken you to the nearest rock in sight of your planet?”

Rose laughs. “Yeah, well, next chance we get, I know where I’m choosing.”

It might be a while before they get a chance to relax on the moon, however. With the Judoon searching for someone non-human, the Doctor has to be more careful than ever. It’s a young intern who finally clues them in to what is going on and who they’re scanning for.

“I went to check on Mr. Stoker, and there she was, just sucking up his blood! With a straw! Like a bloody vampire or something!” babbles the young woman.

“Assimilating the DNA to appear human on the scans. Oh, that’s brilliant!” mutters the Doctor. He turns to the other woman. “Right, you’ve been a great help. Might want to lay low, now, especially if she’s seen you. Rose?”

“Judoon coming up the stairwell, they’ll be on this floor soon,” she responds. “We’ve got about three minutes before they get here.”

“But… who was that woman? _What_ was she?” asks the intern, hysteria creeping into her voice.

“She’s a Plasmavore, yes, an alien,” he adds before she asks. “And I’ve got an idea of what she’s up to but I need time, time which I don’t have right now… Rose, you’ve got to distract the Judoon.”

“Right, but… it’s not like they’re gonna stop and listen to me. What am I supposed to do?”

The Doctor looks embarrassed, and Rose wonders if he wants her to do something really odd or uncomfortable. Still, if it buys him time… “You don’t have to do anything,” he tells her. “Just… stand there, and please don’t slap me.” With that, he leans in and does something she’d never expected.

He kisses her.

It’s an intense kiss, brief but passionate, and for a moment Rose forgets her surroundings entirely. He leaves her breathless, so that by the time she regains composure he’s already gone. She uses her remaining oxygen to murmur in astonishment, “Why would I slap you for _that?_”

The intern is looking on with an expression that is amused, if a bit jealous. “Who was he, then, boyfriend?”

Rose shakes her head, laughing. “I wish.”

“Still, you two seem pretty intimate,” she says with a smirk.

“Trust me, it’s not like that. He only snogs me when they world’s about to end,” Rose laments.

The woman laughs along with her. “Anyway, we haven’t been properly introduced yet. I’m Martha, Martha Jones.”

“My name’s Rose,” she replies, refraining from giving a last name. She’s still officially dead and isn’t too keen on Martha looking into her story more deeply.

“What did he mean by that, anyway?” Martha asks. “That a goodbye kiss because distracting the aliens is a death-sentence?”

“I dunno. Certainly hope he doesn’t mean for me to try and give one of _them _a kiss… it’d be a distraction, yeah, but like you said, death-sentence.”

No time for any more banter, now, the Judoon are coming toward them and it’s up to Rose to try and figure out how to stall them. “Right, I know who you’re looking for,” she stammers. “It’s this woman, a patient here, Martha can show you…” They don’t wait for her to explain, but shine this blue light in her face and she stops speaking, startled.

“Human,” the Judoon pronounces. “Wait. Non-human trace suspected. Non-human element confirmed. Authorize full scan.” Without warning the alien suddenly pushes her up against the wall, large mouth awfully close, and Rose wonders deliriously for a moment if she’s about to receive a second, rather less welcome, kiss.

“What are you? _What are you?_” It snarls at her, though that may just be fear making her think it’s snarling. They sound angry pretty much all the time.

The Judoon twists a knob on it’s scanner, and gives her the blue-light treatment again. Finally it stops, draws a fat X on her hand, and says, “Confirm human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search.” Then it hands her a plastic card, covered in some kind of alien language. “You will need this.”

Rose stares at it blankly. “What’s this for?”

“Compensation.”

The Judoon Platoon marches on, forgetting about them, as Rose and Martha stare at each other. Then Martha speaks up. “Hold on. ‘Facial contact with non-human’… your boyfriend’s an alien?”

“He’s not… he’s not my boyfriend,” Rose mutters tiredly. “I’m worried about him though. Come on!”

* * *

Rose gasps, gulps fresh air into her lungs, and thinks that breathing has never felt this good. She’d thought… well, for a moment she’d thought she wasn’t going to make it. Like the Doctor…Oh, God, last time she’d seen him he was lying lifeless on the floor… she opens her eyes in a flash, wondering if she’s going to have to adjust to yet another new face.

Once glance tells her she doesn’t need to worry about that. The face smiling down on her is ever so familiar, and… hold on. She’s being held, extremely gently, in the Doctor’s arms. That’s… unexpected.

“Hello,” he says to her, grinning, and his smile is so infectious that she grins too without quite understanding why.

“Hello,” she tells him back. With that he turns her upright and sets her on her feet, holding her as she stumbles for a moment.

“Steady there,” he admonishes. “You’ve been unconscious for several minutes, might want to take it easy…”

“You can talk!” She exclaims. “Back there, in the lab… I thought you were dead! I told Martha to do CPR and everything, and then we couldn’t breathe, and I thought we were gone for sure!”

“Haven’t I already told you, never give up on me?” He chides her gently, guiding her to the exit of the hospital that has now found itself back on Earth. “Couldn’t have the Judoon deciding I was guilty as well, so I had to get out of the picture for a while. You did the right thing, though, telling your friend… Martha, was it?… to do CPR. Needed a bit of a jolt to get started again, after shutting all systems down… you all right?” He asks, concerned, as she glances back at the hospital.

“Yeah, fine, just… is she okay? Martha, I mean,” Rose clarifies. “I saw her giving you oxygen, then she passed out. Did she make it?”

“Yes, she’s fine, everyone should be, really. All they needed was a breath of fresh air, and luckily the Judoon transported us back just in time. Wouldn’t be surprised if she becomes a real doctor soon.”

“Tha’s nice,” Rose slurs, stumbling through the TARDIS doors. She can hardly keep her eyes open, now…. Didn’t she hear once that running out of air makes you tired? Whatever, it had certainly done a number on her. “Think I’m gonna rest a bit, then you’re gonna take me to see the moon nice and proper, ‘kay?”

“Sounds like a plan,” she hears him call after her, but she’s too far gone now to think much about it. She plops down on her bed and is soon unconscious once more.

* * *

Martha Jones is sitting across the street, surrounded by a throng of reporters and other onlookers all wanting to know what the hell just happened here. She’s quiet, trying to stay out of the spotlight, and lets her colleague Oliver handle all the talking. Though she was right at the center of the action, she can’t say she understands what happened better than anyone else- if anything, her experience has opened up more questions rather than answers.

Out of the corner of her eye she notices Rose and her alien boyfriend quietly slipping out of the building, away from all the commotion. She considers going after them, but they look as if they’d rather not be disturbed right now, so she does nothing but watch. They cross the street and go over to… is that a blue shed? Confused, Martha watches as the man Rose called the Doctor helps her inside, carefully, then shuts the door behind them. A truck passes in front of them and when Martha’s line of sight is clear again, she realizes the shed has vanished.

Martha blinks several times and wonders if the lack of oxygen has led to hallucinations, and decides to take it easy for the next few days.

Later that evening, after a typically dysfunctional family outing, Martha is suddenly struck by the feeling that she is missing something. There is no logical explanation for it, but all the same, there’s this feeling of loss so tangible that she stops to consider it. Then she feels as if someone is watching her, so she turns to look. In an alleyway several yards away, she sees a young blond girl staring at her solemnly. The girl is entirely unfamiliar to Martha, so after a few seconds she turns and walks quickly away, unsettled.

* * *

The girl appears to be alone in the alleyway. Staring down the street at the retreating woman, she whispers to no one, “This is wrong. I don’t know exactly what happened in the original history, but I do know this is _not_ how it should have happened.”

Silence. Then, “I know. I can’t just watch anymore. Someone’s got to _do_ something…”

With that, she slaps a device on her wrist and vanishes into the night.


	5. Anomalies

If she gets out of this alive, Rose swears she is going to burn that tux.

The first time he wore it, they were attacked by Cybermen, then there was that party in the 37th century which nearly went nuclear, and now she’s being chased by a 78-going-on-40 madman-turned-scorpion. There seems to be a trend here.

She hears the grinding of bones and a tortured scream behind her, and knows she hasn’t got long until Lazarus is strong enough to catch up with her. Frustrated, she peers over the edge of the railing for a second. Down below the Doctor is staring back up at her worriedly. He calls out, “You’ve got to get him up to the top, the very top of the bell tower, got it?”

“Right!” she calls back, hoping she sounds confident, as she starts running again. Up the stairs she runs, as far as she can go, until she arrives at a circular walkway with wooden rails. There’s nowhere else to run. She’s trapped.

“Doctor, I hope you know what you’re doing,” she mutters, only halfway joking. Breathing hard, she turns to stare at the only entrance. Her heart pounds in her chest as the monster that was once Lazarus crashes through the entrance. It’s hard to believe this thing was ever human.

“Hello, my dear,” hisses the monstrosity as it creeps towards her. Rose gulps. _Doctor, now would be a good time to put your plan into action._

Too late. The beast swings his scorpion-like tail at her, knocking out the railing and sending her flying. She screams as her balance is lost and only just manages to cling to the edge of the crumbling walkway as she falls. _Don’t panic, don’t panic_, she thinks desperately, but that’s hard to do when you’re aware that at any moment you could fall to your death, and there’s a life-sucking monster coming for you. Distantly, she hears the sound of music- the Doctor is playing the organ. Wonderful.

Actually, perhaps it is. As Lazarus crouches over her, he begins to writhe in pain. He staggers, the walkway can no longer support his weight, and he topples over the edge, down to the concrete below. Abruptly the music stops. “Rose!” The Doctor is coming for her, and she struggles to hold on just a little bit longer. For some reason, this feels vaguely familiar.

There is no way he is going to reach her in time, she knows. She’s been trying to hold on but she’s slipping. She tries not to imagine the floor and how very far down it is, just hold on, just a few more seconds… but she can’t. In a moment she’s let go.

Unexpectedly and out of thin air, a hand grabs hers before she can plunge to her death.

* * *

The Doctor pounds his way up the stairs, praying he can make it in time. He shouldn’t have asked her to do this. He has this image of her falling to her death, running repeatedly through his mind. He’s dreamed it, so many times… except, in the dream, she’s falling away into a bright light. This church is darker than ever, but the fear of losing her is the same.

“Rose!” Gasping, he finds himself at the top of the tower. Rose is there, safe and sound, sitting next to her unexpected savior. It’s the girl from the cemetery.

“It’s you!”

The girl shoots him a quirky smile that is somehow familiar, and waggles her fingers at him. “Hello!”

Shock quickly gives way to irrational anger. “What are you doing here?”

The girl stands up and helps Rose to her feet. “What’s it look like I’m doing? Saving your friend’s life, obviously.” She brushes past him and starts down the stairs. “You should be more careful with her, Doctor,” she advises, somehow managing to sound lighthearted and deadly serious at the same time.

Rose comes up behind him. “Who is she?”

“That’s a good question,” he mutters, quickly following the girl. “Hold on, just… just hold on a minute. Who are you?”

The girl abruptly turns to face him. “I’m a time-traveler, like you.”

“Yes, except _I_ leave traces of my passage through the space-time continuum, whereas you don’t. Care to enlighten me on why that is?”

She shrugs once, as if it’s not important. “Technically, I don’t even exist. Not in this timeline, at any rate. You could say I’m a bit of an anomaly.”

Rose stares blankly at the girl. “What does that even mean?”

A light begins flashing on the girl’s wristband and she frowns. “Sorry, no time to explain, I’ve gotta run. Love the running,” she adds, grinning like it’s a private joke. She turns and dashes down the stairwell once more. When they reach the next landing, she’s disappeared.

* * *

Back in the TARDIS, the scanner is giving the same readings as before: none. He drops it in disgust and turns to Rose. “Well, whoever she is, she’s right. She doesn’t exist. Not according to the TARDIS, anyway.”

Rose frowns. “But Doctor, you recognized her. You must have met before.”

He sighs and begins to explain. “Well, yes, we did meet a while back. That time at the memorial, you left and I spoke to her for a few minutes. Seemed like she was there to mourn the death of a friend. But then she started talking about timelines and things that shouldn’t have happened. I think she knows me in the future, she knows I’m a Time Lord at any rate… but then why is she crossing our timeline?”

“She said she was there to save my life,” Rose murmurs, looking uncomfortable. “If she hadn’t been there…”

No. He won’t consider that. He speaks up, loudly, to drown out Rose’s suggestion. “Still, she could be a bit more polite. At least give a name, or something.”

Rose rolls her eyes, and for the time being he’s distracted her. “Yeah, I can see how that would be annoying, never knowing someone’s name.”

“And then she pops out of existence, without even an explanation!”

“Well, it’s not like you’ve got a monopoly on being enigmatic, now is it?” Rose mutters sarcastically. She deepens her voice, and stares at him as if in a trance. “That’s who I am. Now forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home,” she intones, then collapses into giggles.

He stares at her, highly offended. “Was that supposed to be an imitation of me?” She doesn’t answer, just keeps laughing. “I did not talk like that!”

“You so did! Mr. Dark-and-Mysterious!”

“I had a reason!”

Still grinning, Rose has calmed down enough to speak clearly. “Yeah, well, she probably has a reason too. Maybe you should take your own advice, Doctor, and forget about it until she’s ready to tell you.”

Soon Rose goes off to take a shower, leaving the Doctor in the console room brooding. He didn’t mention to Rose the most unsettling thing about the girl- the fact that she thought she saw something on his back. She hadn’t mentioned it this time, but he had noticed her eyes, always flicking to look behind him while talking. He’s noticed it elsewhere too, people have been giving him strange looks- not that that’s anything new, but now they all seem to be looking behind him.

In a fit of curiosity, he whirls around to catch a glimpse of his back. Absolutely nothing. Rose is right, he’s probably being paranoid.


	6. No Regrets?

“Everything on this ship is so cheap!” exclaims Riley. Rose glances sideways at him. Traveling with the Doctor you get to meet a lot of interesting people, but there hadn’t exactly been time to get to know each other this time. It turns out they had landed on a ship with less than an hour to go before it crashed into the sun. If that wasn’t bad enough, some of the crew seemed to have gone insane and acquired heat-vision, like some screwed-up version of a superhero-turned-evil.

Something crashes behind them, and Rose winces. Speak of the devil. (Actually, she’d rather not, since the last time she’d met the devil he’d predicted she would die soon. It hasn’t happened yet, but she’s still crossing her fingers.) “Is it Korwin?” she whispers to Riley.

“No, hold on,” He mutters as the figure enters the room. “No, it’s Ashton! Ashton, what are you doing here?”

_“Burn with me,” _declares Ashton, plodding menacingly forward. _“Burn with me!”_

He’s wearing some kind of visor that Rose would rather not see under, so when he begins to lift the cover she grabs Riley’s hand and pulls him away. “Right, let’s get out of here!”

They duck into the adjoining room and shut the door behind them, but it’s clear that is not going to stop Ashton for very long. Riley pulls her into another, smaller hatch, then closes that door as well. Without pausing for breath, he turns to her, almost accusingly, and shouts, “What the hell is happening on this ship?!”

“It’s not good, I can tell you that,” replies Rose. “Anyway, where are we?”

The computer answers for Riley instead. **Airlock sealed. Jettison escape pod.**

Her heart sinks. “Thought it would be something like that.” Riley lunges for the internal keypad, while Rose grabs the comm unit. “Doctor!”

**Pod jettison initiated. **

She stabs at the controls again. “Doctor! We’re trapped in this escape pod, right off of area 17. One of the crew’s tryin’ to jettison us, you’ve gotta help us.” She turns to Riley. “Can you stop him from in here?”

He frowns at the controls in concentration. “I can try.”

A few tense moments later, they breathe a sigh of relief. **Jettison held.**

Then… **Jettison reactivated.**

“No! No, come on!” Yells Rose, as Riley types frantically.

“Geovinsci sequence. This’ll get him,” mutters Riley.

For a minute Rose thinks it has worked, especially after the computer announces, **Jettison held. Escape pod stabilised.** “Thank God,” Rose whispers. She turns to Riley. “The Doctor’s coming. Don’t worry, he’ll take care of it, he’ll get us out…”

Suddenly they hear a crashing noise, and the computer once more announces **Jettison activated. **Riley stabs at the controls, panic growing on his face. “He’s smashed the circuit, I can’t stop it. I can’t stop it!”

Giving up all pretense at being calm, Rose flies to the porthole and begins beating on the glass. She’s never been claustrophobic but she can feel the walls closing in on her now, it feels like she’s losing air already, and she has to will herself not to scream.

**Airlock decompression completed. Jettisoning pod. **

As they begin to move away from the ship the Doctor comes into view, only a few feet away. Rose calls out to him, even though rationally she knows he can’t hear her. _“Doctor!”_

He’s mouthing something back to her, she can’t make it out and all the time he’s getting farther away. She can’t lose him like this. _“Doctor!”_

“Rose, it’s too late.” She hears the words but she doesn’t believe them.

“It’s never too late! Not for him,” she insists, but turning away from the porthole she can see that Riley doesn’t believe her.

“We’re losing power fast. Our heat shields are going to go any minute and after that? Free fall. He won’t have a chance to do anything.”

Glancing out the window, she realizes they’ve gotten too far away from the ship. She’s lost sight of the Doctor, maybe for the last time. No. She won’t believe that.

“You don’t know him!” She cries, frustrated. “I’ve given up on him before, I won’t do it again. If there’s one thing I believe in, I believe in him.”

Riley grins mirthlessly. “Then you’re lucky. I’ve never found anyone worth believing in.”

“What, no girlfriend? Or,” she hastily adds, “boyfriend?”

“This job doesn’t lend itself to stable relationships.”

“Well, what about your family then? Surely someone…”

“My dad’s dead. And I haven’t seen my mum in… six years. She didn’t want me to sign up for cargo tours. Things were said, and since then… all silent,” he says harshly. “She wanted to hold on to me, I know that. She’s so stubborn!”

“Yeah, I know the feeling,” Rose says quietly. “My mum was the same way, always wanted to hold on to me… she was furious when I went traveling with the Doctor. Didn’t help when he kept me away for a year, that first time,” she remembers, smiling slightly.

“A year’s not that bad.”

“It is when I didn’t even tell her I was leaving… didn’t mean to be gone that long, honest, but the Doctor’s not the best driver. She slapped him good, when we got back.”

“But she still let you leave again?”

“Yeah. She was never really happy with it, the idea of me traveling the universe, but she knew it was the life I wanted. In the end, she even got along with the Doctor, believe it or not,” she recalls, grinning.

“And now?” Riley asks.

“Now…” Rose stares off into space, thinking of Jackie. Her mother. The woman she will never see again. She hasn’t been willing to face this, not really. That’s why she’s been pushing so hard lately to just keep moving, always running, never thinking. Never regretting. But now, this close to death and unable to act, all she can do is think.

_“What happens when I’m gone?”_ Jackie had asked. Rose hadn’t taken her seriously at the time, her mum was nowhere close to dying. And yet, hours later, she had lost her for good.

_Did I hurt her?_ Rose wonders, remembering that day at Canary Wharf. _I didn’t even think, the choice was so obvious for me, but she didn’t make a choice. _Had she asked Pete to go back for her daughter? Pete, that was something else she was trying not to think about. It had seemed the perfect solution (at the time); her father, back from the dead, and her mum, who deserved so much more than this world had given her. But had it actually worked out between them, or was Jackie now alone again, a stranger in a strange world?

And even if it the two had stayed together, that was no guarantee that Jackie was happy. _“They’re rich,”_ she had said once, long ago. _“They’ve got a house, and cars, and everything they want. But they haven’t got me.”_

_I’m sorry, Mum,_ she thinks. But it’s too late for that. She’s going to die, and Jackie won’t even know.

“Rose?” Riley interrupts her thoughts and she realizes she’s been silent too long.

“Now…” Rose repeats softly. Her thoughts turn to the memorial in the cemetery. Jackie isn’t dead, but she’s far beyond her daughter’s reach.

“Now, she’s…gone.”


	7. Beat the Heat

It is pure torture, watching her slip away again like this. He promised to keep her safe, but he’s no longer sure he can do that this time. Every second brings her closer to death, so as soon as he can tear himself away he dashes into action. Scannell is not thrilled with his plan.

“I can’t let you do this.”

“You’re wasting your breath, Scannell,” he snaps, as he fumbles with the spacesuit. His hands are unsteady, and he wills himself to be calm. He _can_ save her. “You’re not gonna stop me.”

“No, but I am.” It’s not Scannell speaking. The Doctor turns around to face the newcomer, and somehow he’s not at all surprised to see the blond girl there.

“I told you to be more careful with her, Doctor,” admonishes the Anomaly as she grabs a spare spacesuit. To his consternation she begins getting into it.

“What are you doing?”

“Same thing as last time. Saving your friend’s life.”

He steps forward, and grabs her by the arm. “I can’t let you go out there.”

“Yes, you can, and you will, if you want Rose to live,” replies the girl calmly.

“I can save her!” he protests.

“Not like this.” She reaches down to the hand that grabbed her arm, and holds it in her own. “Look at your hands, Doctor. They’re shaking. You’re afraid of losing her. You’re not thinking clearly, and you’re going to make a mistake.” She drops his hand and stares confidently into his eyes. “I’m not afraid, and I know what to do. Breach the magnetic lock on the ships hull, and it will remagnetize the pod. Let me do this.”

_Trust me._

Psychic connection? He hasn’t felt a telepath this strong since… well. It’s been a while. Her eyes radiate confidence and assurance, and against all his intentions he finds himself agreeing with her.

“All right.”

In a few minutes the girl has stepped out of the airlock and begins working on the hull. Stunned, Scannell turns to the Doctor. “Why do random strangers keep materializing on this ship? And who was that, anyway?”

Staring at the stranger as she works, the Doctor answers as honestly as he can. “I don’t know.”

There is a brief moment when it looks like she won’t be able to reach the lock, but with the practiced ease of a gymnast, the Anomaly executes a flip off the hull, sending her flying right within reach. She struggles with the lever a moment, then plunges it down. The pod begins to sail back towards the ship. As she steps into the airlock once more, the girl throws one last glance back at the sun outside. Suddenly, her entire frame goes rigid, as if with shock.

Scannell peers inside the chamber, concerned. “Doctor, what’s happening to her?”

Trying to contain his own worry, the Doctor simply commands, “Get those doors open, quickly!”

**Airlock recompression completed. **As soon as the computer makes the announcement, the doors fly open, and the girl topples out into the hallway, on her hands and knees. Gone is the confidence she held before going outside, and the Doctor realizes something is horribly wrong.

Meanwhile, Rose and Riley have stepped on board again, and come running down the hallway. “You did it, Doctor! I knew you could…” Rose stops, staring at the fallen girl. “What happened?”

Kneeling next to the girl, the Doctor shoots a glance at Rose. “It wasn’t me, it was her, but something’s wrong…” He takes the Anomaly’s hand and finds it shockingly hot. “Can you speak to me? Just say something, anything.”

Gasping, the girl removes her helmet, her eyes clenched tight. “It’s alive…” the girl whispers coarsely. “It’s alive!”

“What is? What’s alive?”

She turns to face him, and beneath her lids he can see a crack of deadly golden light. _“The sun.”_

Captain McDonnell bursts into the room then, expecting to be briefed. “What happened?” She demands.

The Doctor rises and stares at her, furious. “You mined that sun, didn’t you.” It’s not a question. The truth is far too obvious.

McDonell frowns for second, then her face becomes smooth and expressionless. “Riley, Scannell, go down to area 10 and finish with the doors.”

As the two depart, Rose turns to the Doctor with a questioning glance. “What’s going on?”

“They mined that sun for cheap fuel!” He answers scathingly.

McDonnell is surprisingly calm, and answers, “Yes. We did.”

“Did you scan for life?” The Doctor demands.

She steps back, surprised. Obviously not expecting this question, then. Still no excuse.

“It’s a simple question, Captain. _Did you scan for life?”_ He repeats.

“Well, no, but why would we? Nothing can survive at those temperatures!”

“Oh, really? Why don’t you tell that to her?!” He rages, pointing at the figure on the floor.

The captain stares, confused, at the stranger. “Where’d she come from?”

Before he can answer, the girl speaks up again, her voice laced with pain. “It’s screaming, inside my head… didn’t know, couldn’t see… but… you’ve got to get it out!”

Throwing a disgusted glance at McDonnell, the Doctor once again kneels by the girl. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but I can’t. I don’t…”

She grabs his arm, fingernails digging into his skin. “What would you do if this were you?”

He wracks his mind and comes up with an answer, but it’s not a good one. “I’d freeze myself, but it won’t work like that for you. A human would die before reaching the proper temperatures.”

“Do it.”

“You won’t survive!” he insists, regretfully, but it’s just not possible…

“I will. Because…” She stammers for a moment, trying to regain her bearings, then jerks his hand to her chest. _“Because I’m… like… you.” _

In that moment, time stops. His head whirls with thoughts and emotions that, for once, are too large for him to contain, and he doesn’t really know what to think or feel. It doesn’t matter. For in this girl’s chest, _two_ hearts beat.

For one breathless second the Doctor contemplates what this means for him. He’s not alone, not in the way he had believed. Somehow, impossibly, someone survived. There is no doubt that this girl is Gallifreyan. With that touch, her mind opened to him, strange yet familiar. And right now, she’s mentally screaming in anguish. Right. He snaps back to the present.

With one fluid motion, the Doctor rises and pulls the girl up beside him. “Right! Rose, you’re with me. We’ve got to set the stasis chamber to below minus 200. Med Bay, now! As for you, Captain,” he continues, still glaring at McDonnell, “Maybe you could try doing something right for a change.”

* * *

The Doctor and Rose stagger along the hallway, the girl in tow. The life of their savior is suddenly in his hands, and he prays that he hasn’t miscalculated. He can’t let her die now.

She staggers, and hisses in pain. “It’s getting stronger,” she says, teeth clenched. “The closer we get to the sun… it wants me to kill you!”

Rose attempts to sooth her, rubbing an arm which is literally burning hot. “It’s all right. The Doctor won’t let that happen. Shhh… it’s okay.”

“No… s’not!” she gasps. “If I die… major paradox…shouldn’t have interfered!”

They reach the MedBay, and the two hoist the Anomaly up to the stasis chamber. “Rose, hold her steady, I’ve got to set up the chamber,” the Doctor instructs.

He starts fiddling with the controls, setting it to minus 200. Ten seconds should be enough, he’s not willing to risk more than that. Glancing back, he can see the girl is whimpering, and Rose is trying to comfort her. Please, let this work.

“Right. I’m going to start the freezing process,” he announces. “You ready?”

_“No!”_ sobs the girl. Her voice is high and thin. She sounds like a child crying out. “I’m scared! I’m so scared, Dad. It’s… it’s burning…”

“I’m going to stop it,” he assures her. “Just hold on…” He activates the machine, and the girl’s screams of pain begin to rattle the edges of the room. Rose steps away from the table, her eyes wide with shock.

For a moment he believes it’s going to work. As the temperature in the machine drops, the girl quiets down and becomes still. If he’s right, she could recover from this. Down to minus 60, minus 65… then the chamber his minus 70 and stops. The machine is powering down.

“No, no, no, NO!” He shouts, slapping the controls. “It can’t stop now!”

“Doctor, what’s going on?” asks Rose, frightened.

“We’ve lost power! I can’t freeze her, she’s gonna burn…” He runs his hands through his hair wildly, trying to think of a solution. Suddenly he stops. “The fuel! The fuel has sun particles inside, if we can return it… I’ve got to vent the fuel!”

He starts towards the door, only to be stopped by an icy hot hand on his. “Don’t leave me,” pleads the girl, her voice wavering. The Doctor looks at Rose desperately.

She nods once. “Vent the sun particles. Got it.”

“At the front of the ship. Scannell and Riley should know what to do. Go!” Rose dashes off, and the Doctor turns to the half-frozen figure on the table. With nothing else to concentrate on, he can feel the edges of her mind, fraying, burning, and melding with the sun. His hearts go out to this girl, who he barely even knows. She frustrates him with a mystery he can’t solve, and yet, right now, she’s just another person who needs his help. He will give it freely… that, and more.

“Dad…” The girl is crying out again, tears streaming down her cheeks and evaporating with the heat. He wonders who her father was, maybe if he knew him. Gallifreyan parents aren’t usually close to their offspring, so this girl’s father must have been extraordinary. He would have liked to meet him.

Through their connection, he can feel the Anomaly’s mind racing, flashing through memories faster and faster. Planets and stars, some seem familiar to him, others completely alien. People, thousands of people. He thinks he recognizes himself in one of those memories, but it flashes by before he has time to think. One person in particular shows up time and again… a friend? Companion? The memory of her is so vivid for an instant the Doctor thinks he can see her, right in the room with them: a petite woman, lightly curled hair, eyes wide with concern. The Anomaly stirs, reaches out, as if to a friend. She murmurs something, it might be a name, but he can’t quite catch it.

Moments later, all the memories are lost in a sea of flame. For just a second, the girl seems lucid again. “Sorry…” she gasps. “So sorry. Can’t control it… burning.” Under her eyelids gleams the light of a dying star, and she turns unseeingly to him. _“Burn with me.”_

He backs away, hands out as if to keep her in place, although there’s no way she can see that. “Easy. Just breathe deep, hang on a bit longer.”

_“Burn with me!”_ As she reaches out, the ship lurches and she topples off the table. Before he can decide whether to run forward or stay back, her body arches and begins to shake, as if she’s having a seizure. The floor tilts again and he is thrown painfully to his knees. Rose must have gotten them to vent the sun particles. He only hopes it was in time to save their rescuer.

As the ship settles, he makes his way over to the girl. She’s still breathing, much more calmly now than before. Surely that’s a good sign. Suddenly her eyes fly open. They are back to normal, a rich chocolate brown. She manages a tiny grin. “Hello.”

“Hello,” he grins back. And then, just because he feels like it, he scoops her up into a big hug. She shrieks in delight and hugs him back, just as gleefully. When he finally stops and looks around, he notices that Rose is standing in the entrance of the room.

“So, it worked then?” She asks, sounding a bit out of breath.

The girl wipes her eyes and gets to her feet, still smiling. “Yeah, whatever you did, it worked. Thanks.”

“Seems like I should be the one thanking you,” Rose offers, her eyes narrowing slightly. “That’s twice now you’ve saved my life.”

The girl makes a short, noncommittal noise and begins to shrug off the outer layers of her spacesuit. Rose looks like she wants to say something more but holds back, until the girl is finally clad in just her everyday clothes.

“Are we gonna get some answers this time? About why you keep popping in and out of our lives?” Rose demands.

The girl sighs tiredly and wipes her brow. “Can’t do that.”

Now that it’s clear she’ll recover, the Doctor finds himself becoming just as frustrated as ever with the Anomaly. He knows it’s technically against the rules to dig too deep into your own future, but this girl keeps showing up and he’s tired of not knowing why. The girl turns to look at him, almost reading his thoughts, although she’s firmly shut the connection between their minds.

“For your own sake, Doctor, keep your curiosity to yourself. What I’m trying to do… it’s complicated, and one wrong word could send the entire timeline crashing down. Anyway, if I succeed, this should be the last time you’ll see me.” She smiles, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.

He reaches out, takes her hand. “Please,” he pleads. “You said you’re like me. We could be the only ones left, and I… I just want to talk to you.” _Stay._

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, removing her hand and taking a step back. “I can’t.” She plays with a device on her wrist, the air ripples around her, and then she’s gone.


	8. Promises Made, Promises Broken

Back in the TARDIS, the air has been turned on high. It’s comfortable for the Doctor, but Rose is shivering. When he asks her if he should turn it down, she tells him no. She’s had enough of heat for a while, the cool air serves as a reminder they are no longer in danger. For the moment.

She thought she was exhausted, but when Rose finally makes it to her room and into bed, she finds she can’t fall asleep. Things keep going round and round in her mind. Things like Mum, and Mickey, even Shareen. She hasn’t thought of her friend in forever… probably because they really aren’t friends anymore. It’s hard to stay friends with someone when you’re off visiting other planets and times, which they wouldn’t believe you about anyway… and even harder when the friend in question believes you’re dead.

Rose sighs and rolls over. If she’s honest, she stopped being friends with Shareen long before Canary Warf. Their lives were just too different. She struggles to think of other friends, other people she can count on, but finally she’s forced to admit there is only one. The Doctor. For the first time, she begins to wonder if that is enough.

Her thoughts turn suddenly to Sarah Jane, and that conversation outside the chip shop. _“You just leave us behind. Is that what you’re gonna do to me?”_ He’d told her no, told her she was special, that she could spend her entire life with him. Just hours later he had left her without knowing that he could get back.

She tosses again, staring moodily at the other wall. She thought she was over that. Things had gotten better since then, they were closer friends than ever. Except now she’s thinking about that time in the escape pod. Realizing there was only one person to miss her when she’s gone. Realizing there’s only one person left that she can count on. And that person has a history of abandoning people when he thinks it’s best for them.

Frustrated, she throws off the covers. She can’t sleep now. Suddenly dreading it, but knowing it’s the only thing she can do, she goes to talk to the Doctor.

* * *

_“Because I’m like you.”_

Four little words, almost meaningless out of context, had managed to scramble his viewpoint of the world. Someone had managed to survive. Someone who was apparently willing to cross timelines for him, and at the same time wanted nothing to do with him. How could she reveal something this big, and then simply disappear, like it was nothing? How?

It was driving him mad.

He has resolved to try and put the girl out of his mind for now, but that was easier said than done. In an attempt to forget the events of the day, he slips into the library to do a little light reading. Normally there would be a roaring fire in the fireplace to make it a little more cozy, but today the TARDIS had realized a fire was probably the last thing he wanted and left it alone. He hasn’t had much time to get into _Temporal Physics and Quantum Anomalies_ when Rose enters the room, wrapped in the thermal quilt from Terquon 5. It really must be cold for her, he thinks, and resolves to turn the heat up a bit.

Aloud, he says, “Oh, still up? Thought you’d have dropped off by now.”

She just shrugs, looking away. “Couldn’t sleep. I just… I was thinking, and… we need to talk,” she finishes, turning back towards him.

_You’re in for it now, mate,_ whispers a voice in the back of his head, one that sounds remarkably like Mickey Smith. _That’s four words no man ever wants to hear._

He tries to ignore the voice and lays down the book. “All right, let’s talk. No need to stand on ceremony, though, there’s plenty of room.” He motions to the space beside him.

Instead of sitting close, Rose perches nervously on the edge of the couch. It begins to dawn on him that something is seriously wrong. “Do you remember that time with Sarah Jane, and the Krillitane? The chip shop?” she asks.

He can’t see the connection, can’t understand what about that adventure is bothering her now, but still he answers, “Yes…”

She chews anxiously on the edge of her lip and does not look at him as she speaks. “That night, when we were talking… you said I could spend the rest of my life with you.” Glancing his way, she asks, “Did you mean it?”

He frowns, not understanding. “Rose, I’m not sure what _you_ mean.”

There is silence, and for a moment he fears she won’t answer, but finally she speaks up. “What I mean is… I’ve told you that I want to stay with you forever. And I do. What I want to know is if you’ll let me.” When he doesn’t answer immediately, she bursts out, “I want to know that you’re not gonna leave me.”

He is so shocked by this statement that it is a moment before he can compile his thoughts. He stammers out, “Rose, I would never…”

“But you have!” She interrupts, her voice wavering. “That time on the Gamestation, on the ship with that woman from France… and when the ghosts came, you tried to send me away then too, even though I made it clear I didn’t want to leave!” He starts to protest but she plows over him. “I’m not mad, I swear I’m not, I forgave you a long time ago for that. But… but I can’t forget it. And I need a guarantee that it’s not gonna happen again.”

For once he is silent, not daring to look at her, not trying to answer. She’s right, of course, but at the same time he doesn’t see how he can make such a guarantee. He wants to protect her, no matter how much she might protest. Taking his silence as a cue, Rose continues softly, “Cos things are different now. When you left me on the ship with the droids, at least I had Mickey. But he’s gone now, and so is Mum… I thought about her, in that pod, waiting for death. I realized… she’ll never know how I die, or what happens to me. I can’t turn back to her now.”

His head snaps up, eyes blazing with unintended anger. “I told you, Rose, then in the Ghost Shift room, that you could never see her again. _You_ made the choice to stay in this universe. It’s too late to go back. I’m sorry if you regret that,” he says harshly.

She steps backwards, nervously. “I _don’t!_ I don’t regret any time spent with you, Doctor, _never,_ even if it means I can’t see Mum again… I’m sorry, I’m saying this all wrong.” She turns to leave, almost crying in frustration.

He can’t let it end there. Reaching out, he pulls her back down beside him. As he sees how truly confused and upset she is, his anger melts away. He begins to hate the universe for forcing this impossible choice upon her and tearing her single heart in half. Afraid that he might hurt her more by speaking, he simply holds her as tears trickle silently down her cheeks.

“It’s just… they’re gone now… I didn’t realize what that would mean, didn’t think. You’re worth it, though, never would have chosen this if you weren’t. But… but it means, if you leave me, I’ll have nothing left, Doctor. _Nothing._” She swallows difficultly, seemingly ashamed of her tears. Then, softly, “You’re _everything_ to me.”

The moment seems forever. He doesn’t know how to respond to this, not really. It’s never been like this before, not for him… his companions have always, always been temporary guests. They might travel with him for a year or ten, but they always have a life to go back to, somewhere, somewhen.

Or do they?

With some consternation, he thinks back to the night Rose referred to, that night in the chip shop. But it’s a different conversation that comes to mind, now. Sarah Jane. His precious Sarah Jane.

_“You didn’t need me,”_ he’d told her, somewhat jokingly. _“You were getting on with your life.”_

And she’d stared at him, accusingly. _“You_ were _my life.”_

_I should have gone back for her,_ he thinks ruefully. _I should have… but it’s too late for that now, timelines and all._

_It’s not too late for Rose._

She had made it clear, time and time again, that she was not going anywhere. That, no matter what, she would always try to come back to him. He hadn’t noticed just how much he had come to depend on the assurance of her presence, how much he takes it for granted that she will be there, for as long as she is able. Now she’s telling him she wants that same assurance. Was that too much to ask?

“Rose,” he murmurs, cupping his hand under her chin. “Rose, look at me.” Slowly she looks up, gazing at him through red and puffy eyes, still shivering slightly beneath the blanket. “I promise you, Rose, I’m not going to leave you again. The TARDIS is your home, now, just as much as it is mine. If you want to stay here, and I think we both know you’ve made it quite clear that you do…” She gives a little laugh through her tears, and he smiles along with her, “… then I’m not going to turn you away. I promise.”

She closes her eyes and snuggles closer to him. “Forever?” She whispers, sounding content.

He hesitates. He knows better than anyone that it won’t be forever, not really, but for the moment he allows himself to believe it. “Forever.”

Outside, time and space spin madly on, a testament to the futility of infinity. Within the eye of the storm, however, they find it easier to ignore such cold facts. For the moment.

* * *

It’s a relatively short time later that she is given reason to doubt the validity of his promise. One glance at the viewscreen and the figure running madly towards them is more than enough proof that he has not been completely honest with her.

“Oh my God…”


	9. Crash World

“What?” asks the Doctor, poking his head in from the hallway.

Rose isn’t listening though. She thinks her brain might be in shock. Because here, in the 21st century, in _Cardiff_ no less, is Captain Jack Harkness. _Alive._

Before she can really come to terms with this revelation, she hears a grating sound and realizes the Time Rotor is in motion. They’re about to take off. “Doctor, don’t you dare!” She commands, dashing towards the door.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she is able to take in that he is just standing there, mouth hanging open and not touching anything, before she is outside and the doors slam shut. She barely has time to comprehend that somehow, impossibly, the TARDIS is leaving without her, before someone collides with her and they both hit the pavement.

“Rose!” Blinking, Rose shifts uncomfortably as a heavy weight is lifted off of her. “Sorry ‘bout that, I didn’t have time to slam on the brakes!” A strong hand grips hers and helps her to her feet. “Glad to see you’re still around!”

“Jack!” She cries out gleefully, and pays him back with a tackle of her own. They stand in an embrace, grinning like idiots for a long moment, until finally parting. Then Rose glances back at the place where the TARDIS was, and her face falls.

Jack notices the look in her eyes and grips her hand, tightly. “He’ll be back for you, Rose,” He assures her, although his expression is dark.

“He better be,” Rose mutters. “But why’d he leave in the first place?” Her question is plaintive, begging for an explanation. She’s never seen him act like this before. Why would he run away from Jack, and leave her behind in the process?

Jack looks about to say something, but is cut off by the grating sounds of the engine. Rose lets out a sigh of relief as she realizes the TARDIS is returning. A long moment passes after the Police Box has fully materialized before the door slowly opens to reveal the Time Lord, face devoid of emotion.

Upon seeing that face something occurs to her. She turns rapidly to Jack, saying, “Oh, um, Jack, this is the Doctor. See, there’s this thing called regeneration…”

He interrupts her. “I know.” Jack’s expression has also become carefully neutral, and Rose senses there is more going on here than she understands. Confused, she falls silent. Eyes fixed upon the Time Lord, Jack nods slowly. “Doctor.”

“Captain,” responds the Doctor smoothly. Still no emotion. Rose looks back and forth between the two of them, uncomprehending.

“Good to see you.”

“And you.”

Rose can’t stand it any more. This is so far from the happy reunion she just shared with Jack, so not what she would have pictured, and it’s driving her crazy. “What is going on?” She demands angrily, glaring at the two men. “What’s gotten into you two?”

They both turn to look at her, almost as if they had forgotten she was there. Then Jack speaks up, keeping his tone light and completely ignoring what she’s just said. “It’s good to see you too, Rose. After the Battle of Canary Wharf, I thought… you do know you’re on the list of the dead, right?”

“Yeah, I sort of figured that out,” she huffs. “And don’t go changing the subject like that… come to think of it, though, how is it that _you’re_ still alive? You told me he died on the Gamestation!” She accuses, turning to the Doctor.

The Time Lord shifts his balance uncomfortably. “Well, technically speaking, he did.”

“You just can’t keep a good man down,” Jack laughs harshly. “Not for long, at least.”

Rose stares. “What, he came back from the dead? Just like that? And you never thought I might want to know? You never…” She trails off, unable to go on. That he would keep something like this from her, that he would even _think_ of doing something like this… she can’t even feel hurt, right now she’s too busy being shocked. Frustrated, she shakes her head, trying to clear it. “I need to sit down. Let’s just go into the TARDIS and try to sort this out, okay?”

“That might not be such a good idea, Rose,” the Doctor says tightly. “The TARDIS isn’t reacting well to Jack’s presence.”

“That makes two of you,” she snaps back. “So he came back from the dead, so what? So did you… sort of. I don’t see how that excuses the way you’re acting,” she says, folding her arms over her chest crossly.

“It’s a bit more complicated than that…” he starts.

“Then lets get it sorted out, _inside,_ instead of in plain view of everyone in Cardiff. Come on, Jack,” she says roughly, grabbing his hand and leading the way.

“Still got him on a short chain, huh, Rose?” Jack says lightly as they make their way through the doors.

“Oh, stop it,” She mutters. “I’m not through with you, either.”

“What, no ‘Hey, you’re back from the dead’ kiss?”

“Mmm, I’ll think about it,” she says, allowing a small smile. She watches intently as the Doctor takes them into the Vortex, then crosses her arms again, business-like. “Right. Both of you, start from the beginning. Tell me what’s going on.”

“For starters, we’re not going to get very far if the TARDIS keeps acting up like this,” reports the Doctor, frowning at the controls. He wrenches a lever downwards. “Behave!”

Rose glares at him. “If you could forget about the TARDIS for one _second,_ and just…” She is cut off by a sudden, unexpected siren, as the room begins spinning on its axis. Rose finds herself thrown to the floor, quickly followed by Jack. The Doctor is thrown back against the jump seat. Amidst the chaos of alarms and shaking, he reaches forward and fiddles with some of the controls on the console. Finally things start to calm down.

“Oi! I know you’re upset, but it’s not that bad!” He exclaims to the time machine, stroking some of the controls. This is not surprising to Rose, although she does find it a bit odd at times. What _is_ surprising is that somehow, during the mini time-quake, the room has spawned another person, dressed in an old cricketing suit. And that person seems just as concerned with the well being of the TARDIS as the Doctor.

“Just settle down now,” says the stranger, also patting down the controls. The two men don’t seem to notice each other as they make their way around the console, playing with the contrivances found there.

“Excuse me.”

“So sorry,” replies the stranger, moving past the Doctor. A second later, they both seem to register the other’s presence, and turn around, gaping.

“What?” squeals the Doctor.

The stranger echoes him. “What?”

And, just for good measure, the Doctor throws in one final, _“What?!”_

“That’s enough!” shouts Rose, picking herself off the ground. “First of all, I’ve had quite enough of falling on my arse for today, thanks very much. No offense, Jack,” she adds to the Captain, who is also getting to his feet.

“None taken,” gasps Jack, brushing himself off.

“And second,” she turns back to face the two men at the console, “Doctor, who the hell is this?”

Before the Doctor can open his mouth, the new arrival answers for him. “I’m sure I’ve never met him before in my life. More to the point though, who are _you_, and how do you know who I am?”

As Rose tries to get her head around this, her Doctor starts babbling excitedly. “Oh, brilliant! I mean, totally wrong, big emergency, universe goes bang in five minutes but... _brilliant!”_

The stranger frowns. “Is there something wrong with him?” He asks Rose.

She’s still too shocked to speak, but her Doctor more than makes up for that. “Oh there it goes! The frowny face, I remember that one!” Grinning like a maniac, he turns to his companions. “Rose, Jack, I’d like to introduce,” here he gives a big, important-looking flourish, “The Doctor. Mark Five, to be precise.”

Jack’s eyebrows go way up, then smoothly settle down again. His face assumes the (all-too familiar) expression he wears when he’s meeting someone for the first time, and he likes what he sees. “Nice to meet you, Doc,” he says, proffering a hand.

The other Doctor gives it one quick shake and then drops it, looking annoyed. “As fun as meet and greet is, there is something very wrong with my TARDIS, and I’ve got to do something about it very, very quickly. So it _would_ help, it really would help if you would all kindly back away and let me concentrate!”

Her Doctor looks abashed. “Right, group, over here, let’s let the Doctor get on with his work…” They gather over near the entrance, Jack still glancing back at the other Doctor. Rose has finally calmed down enough to speak.

“So… he’s a past version of you?”

“Yup,” he says, popping the ‘p’. “About five regenerations ago. Although he does look a bit different then I remember… bit saggier, hair’s a bit grayer… that’s probably because of me, though, two of us together has shorted out the time differential. He should go back to normal once he gets back home.”

“But how’d he get here?” she asks.

Before he can reply, the Doctor at the console speaks up again. “What have you done to my TARDIS? You’ve changed the desktop theme! What’s this one, then, coral?”

“Um…”

“It’s worse than the leopard skin,” he says scathingly. Jack perks up.

“Leopard skin?” Jack leers. “What d’you use that one for, Doc?”

The other Doctor whips out a pair of spectacles and begins peering at the readouts. Next to her, Rose’s Doctor gets excited again. “Oh, here they come, the brainy specs! He doesn’t even need them,” he confides to her, “He just thinks they make him look a bit clever.”

Rose snorts and wonders about _his_ pair of glasses, when a blaring alarm once more interrupts her thoughts.

The other Doctor seems alarmed. “That's an alert. Level five. Indicates a temporal collision. It's like two TARDISes have merged, but there's definitely only one TARDIS present. Looks like two time zones at war in the heart of the TARDIS. That's a paradox. Could blow a hole in the space time continuum the size of...” he pauses, staring at the readout. “...Well, actually, the exact size of Belgium. That's a bit undramatic, isn't? Belgium?”

Rose frowns. “Still bad, yeah? Shouldn’t you be helping him?” she asks her Doctor.

“It’s kind of you to offer, but I really don’t think you’ll be able to offer much assistance, no matter how big a fan you happen to be,” says the other Doctor condescendingly.

She blinks. _“Fan?”_

“That’s what you are, correct? Some sort of fan group, figured you’d hitch a lift into time and space by sneaking on my ship?”

Jack is amused. “What, do you get that a lot? Groupies watching your every move? Fans descending on you, pleading for autographs?”

The current Doctor looks annoyed at his sarcasm, but the past one is oblivious. “It's perfectly understandable. I go zooming around space and time saving planets, fighting monsters and being, well, let's be honest, pretty sort of marvelous...” Rose tries not to roll her eyes. “And naturally every now and then people notice me... start up their little groups. That LINDA lot… you’re not with them, are you?”

“No, we’re not with them,” Rose says, trying not to laugh. “I guess you could say I’m fan,” she grins. “One of your biggest… until about ten minutes ago, that is,” she finishes, shooting a glare towards her Doctor.

The past Doctor is confused. “What’s she talking about?” He asks his counterpart.

“Oh, nothing you need to worry about, not for another couple of centuries at least,” replies her Doctor airily.

“What exactly does that mean?” he inquires, losing patience.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” counters her Doctor, stepping closer to give his past self a good look. Before the other has a chance to think, a second alarm goes off. This time it sounds like a bell in some kind of cathedral, and judging by the Doctor’s reaction it isn’t good.

“The Cloister Bell!”

“Yep, right on time, that’s my cue!” Exclaims her Doctor, jumping into action at the console. The other Doctor doesn’t share his enthusiasm.

“In less than a minute we're going to detonate a black hole strong enough to swallow the entire universe!”

“That’s my fault, really,” explains the current Doctor, glancing apologetically at Rose and Jack. “The TARDIS was acting erratically due to one of my passengers…”

Jack’s expression grows dark. “Wait just a minute…” he starts, but the Doctor doesn’t let him finish.

“Not now, Captain. Where was I? Oh yes; Your TARDIS and my TARDIS... well the same TARDIS, different points in its own time steam… collided and, oop, there you go, end of the universe. But don't worry, I know exactly how this all works out.” He begins dashing about the console, shouting out instructions as he does so. “Venting the thermal buffer, flooring the Helmic regulator, and just to finish off, lets fry those Zeiton crystals.”

Alarmed, the other Doctor tries to stop him. “You’ll blow up the TARDIS!”

“It’s the only way out!” Insists her Doctor.

“Who told you that?”

“You told me that!”

Too late for anything else, Rose grabs Jack’s hand and holds on tight. For a split second the world turns inside out, everything and nothing happening all at once. When reality reasserts itself, she’s got a splitting headache.

By the console, the Doctors are congratulating each other on the brilliant maneuver they’ve just pulled off to save the universe. She tries to tune it out, and focuses on Jack, who is staring at her with concern.

“Rose? Hey, are you all right?”

“M’fine,” she answers, pressing her hand to her forehead. “Cept I’ve got a headache. And I’m thinking, for a Time Lord, he’s got to have about the worst timing in the universe. Or maybe the best. What d’you wanna bet he’s trying to distract us and avoid explaining himself?”

Jack chuckles. “I wouldn’t put it past him.”

They turn back to the Doctors. The younger one seems to finally have been clued in as to what is really going on, for he looks over Jack and Rose again with renewed interest. Then he frowns.

“Strange choice in traveling companions, Doctor,” he says, somewhat disapprovingly. “That one,” he nods at Jack, “How do you stand it? He appears to have an infinite timeline, but that’s absurd…”

“Welcome to my world,” Jack mutters.

Before Rose can ask what he means, the other Doctor has turned to her. “And the girl…” His expression grows even darker. “That’s _wrong._ She shouldn’t be here.”

“Wh…what?” Rose asks, dazed. To have the Doctor say that, even if he doesn’t know her yet… Her Doctor looks just as surprised as she is.

“What do you mean by that?” He demands of his other self.

“You’ve been interfering with her timeline!” Accuses the other Doctor. “I can’t see how, but you’ve changed the course of history for her… you know the consequences for that!” he rants angrily, staring at Rose. She takes an inadvertent step backwards, unnerved. Jack moves forward, stepping in front of her protectively.

The other Doctor whirls to face his counterpart, staring harder. “And your _own_ timeline, as well! Have you gone mad?”

“I haven’t done anything!” replies her Doctor defensively. “I have no idea what you’re talking about…”

As she watches, the Doctor in the cricketing outfit begins to fade, but she can still hear him clearly. “Nevertheless, the evidence is there. There’s something… something on your back…” Then he vanishes completely, leaving the other three completely bewildered.

Rose finds her voice shakily. “Doctor? What did he mean? You… he said I was wrong. What did he mean?”

For once, the Doctor is totally clueless. “I don’t know, Rose,” he admits uneasily. “I honestly don’t know.”

Jack clears his throat. “What about…” Before he can finish, a loud bell sounds, and the prow of a ship crashes through the side of the TARDIS.

_It’s official, _Rose thinks dully as the others react to the presence of a life-ring marked, “Titanic”. _He really does have the worst timing ever. _


	10. All in the Timing

_Sometimes, the TARDIS has impeccable timing_, thinks the Doctor smugly. Just when it looks like things are going to settle down and he’ll be forced to offer an explanation, she crashes into the Titanic. Brilliant.

Of course, it does mean that there is an enormous hole in the hull of his ship, but that’s easily remedied by engaging the transdimentional stabilizer. What’s not going to be so easy is convincing Rose to put explanations on hold for the time being and come explore. Still, he gives it his best shot.

“Rose, that’s the Titanic out there! Well, not the original, obviously, the alloy is fundamentally different, more like a spaceship, but still! Aren’t you even the least bit curious?”

“Yeah, I’m curious,” she replies, stamping her foot like an angry child. “I’m curious as to why you abandoned Jack without any explanation, and why you’re running away from him, even now! Can we ignore the universe for about five minutes and _talk about this?_”

“Easy, tiger,” cautions Jack, placing a hand on her arm. “Look, I didn’t come here to make trouble in paradise,” he explains, looking back and forth between Rose and the Doctor. “I just want an explanation of some things that have been happening in my life, and frankly it doesn’t matter if it happens in here or on some futuristic version of the Titanic, so long as I get some answers. If you’re _that_ set on exploring, Doctor, we’ll do it your way.” He allows a bit of his old grin to shine through. “Sides, I’ve sort of missed this unexpected life of yours.”

The Doctor smiles hopefully, then turns to Rose. She seems to have deflated, her anger draining away into a tired frustration. “Rose?”

“You know what? Fine,” she mutters, not looking at him. “If Jack wants to go, then we’ll go. Just one condition.”

“What’s that?” he asks, concerned.

“You’re _not_ wearing that tux again.”

* * *

Despite her overwhelmingly paranoid demand that _he_ not change clothes, Rose still tells them to wait while she puts together her own outfit. There is a tense, uncomfortable silence between the Doctor and Jack for a few moments, and he suddenly dreads having to wait here with the man until Rose comes back. He tries to think of some sort of safe topic to ramble on about to fill up the silence, but Jack speaks first.

“All right. What was that all about?”

“What?”

Jack crosses his arms defiantly. “You can drop the pretenses, Doctor. You _know_ about my… problem. You _know_ how it happened to me. And you don’t want Rose to find out about it. Why?”

“Is it that difficult to believe that I’m simply excited about exploring a top-of-the-line space-ship designed after the Titanic?” he asks, somewhat lamely.

“Frankly, yes,” says Jack sharply. “You’ve been dodging this question ever since I got here.” His eyes narrowed as he went on. “You know, that other guy we traveled with, the one with big ears and leather jacket, he may have been rough around the edges but he was never evasive. If there was bad news he’d tell us straight out, no sugar-coating or hand-holding.” He stepped closer until he was staring straight into the Doctor’s eyes, searching. “Where’d that guy go, huh? How much of you is still in there?”

The Doctor stares back, unwavering. “Maybe I have changed, Jack. But I still want what’s best for Rose.”

“And who are you to decide that?” demands Jack heatedly. “You think keeping the truth from her is what’s best for her? You’re only going to end up driving her away.” He paused, looking at the Doctor intently. “Why are you so bent on keeping her from discovering what happened that night?”

He hesitates, but finally admits, “Because she caused it all. And I… I can’t lay that burden on her.”

Jack opens his mouth to ask more, but all too soon Rose is at the door in her semi-formal outfit, demanding that they get this over with. She takes Jack’s hand again and they exit the TARDIS, the Doctor following more slowly behind.

Jack’s right, he admits to himself. He needs to tell her the truth.

He just needs some time to figure out how.

* * *

Out in the dining room, the Doctor is feeling completely underdressed. “Look, Rose, it’s obviously a high-class cruise liner. I don’t see what it is you have against that tux.”

“Every time you wear it, something worse than usual happens. I’ve kept a list,” she says coolly. “Besides, you look fine. No one could stand out worse than those two, anyway,” she adds, nodding at a couple dressed up in matching purple cowboy outfits.

“Now, Rose, be polite. It’s not their fault they’re fashion-impaired.”

She rolls her eyes and turns away from him. He watches as she glances around the room, taking in all in, then frowns. “What is it?” He asks.

“Nothing. S’just… they give me the creeps.”

“What?”

She nods towards one of the robots standing by the wall. “Angels.”

He glances at the object of her musings and smiles. “Well, it’s not stone. Don’t think you need to be worried this time.”

“Right,” she says doubtfully. “Listen, are we going to talk about this or not?” She looks around, searching for the third member of their party. “Where’s Jack?”

The Doctor spots Jack over by one of the windows, helping a pretty waitress who’s just been knocked over by a rude passenger. “I think Jack’s a bit preoccupied at the moment.”

Rose looks over too and sighs. The girl is smiling easily and it’s clear that Jack is in his element. It could be awhile before he’s ready to rejoin them. “Fine. What do we do now?” She asks, somewhat grudgingly.

“Well, it’s Christmas. We’re on a cruise. Might as well mingle with our fellow passengers. Come on!” He grabs her hand and they go introduce themselves to the fashion impaired couple. As they chat with the Van Hoffs, he notices some of the tension leave Rose’s posture. She helps them feel at ease amid the somewhat snobbish atmosphere, and they do the same for her. So when the couple announce they are going ‘ashore’, he suggests they go along. They both try not to laugh as the guide describes wildly incorrect versions of Christmas traditions, and he starts to relax too. So it’s a bit of a shock when they are transported to the streets of London on Christmas Eve, and the place is completely deserted.

“Okay, I’m not trying to be blatantly obvious, but I have to ask,” declares Rose, gesturing wildly at the empty shops, “Where _is_ everyone?”

The Doctor frowns. “Dunno.” He ambles over to a closed newsstand and grabs one of the recent papers. “Rose, look at this!”

He shows her the headline, which reads, _Londoners Evacuate in Anticipation of Christmas Invasion. _She grins. “Actually, that’s probably wise. Considering the past few Christmases an’ all…” She trails off, and he understands that she is thinking of last Christmas, when they weren’t here to make a difference. He takes her hand and squeezes it gently.

“It’ll be alright,” he reassures her. “We’re bound to have an uneventful Christmas one of these days.”

“Yeah. I’m just not convinced that’s going to happen with a spaceship named ‘Titanic’ hovering in the sky,” she murmurs, glancing heavenwards. She pulls herself away from him and walks a bit further, gazing without interest in the shop windows. Sighing, he goes to stand beside her.

“Look, Rose, I’m sorry.”

“Sorry,” She repeats, not looking at him. “You say that an awful lot. I’m starting to wonder if you mean it.”

“I do. I’ve handled things pretty badly, I know,” he admits.

“I just don’t understand,” she mumbles, her gaze dropping to the ground. “You leave Jack behind, you let me think he’s dead, then you won’t tell me what’s going on…” She glances up at him, not angry now, just tired and confused. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Looking around, he notices that they are completely alone; the rest of the group has wandered off. It’s just him and Rose, looking so vulnerable here in the evening light, and he realizes he can’t keep evading the truth. She deserves to know, however painful it might be for both of them. Hesitantly, he begins to explain. “That night, on the Gamestation…”

Without warning, their surroundings change, and they find themselves back onboard the Titanic. Furious, he turns to Mr. Copper. “I was in mid-sentence!” He hears Rose mutter something about “Bloody timing,” as their guide responds.

“Yes, I'm sorry about that. A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets…” requests Mr. Copper, flustered.

“But…” he splutters, frustrated. Here he was, all worked up to tell Rose the truth, and then to be interrupted this way… well. It was indecent, that’s what it was. He wants to complain to someone about the shoddy service. Except, of course, they never really paid for this cruise. And anyway, none of this would have happened if he’d just stayed in the TARDIS and explained things the way Rose had wanted to.

Still. Terrible service.

The steward comes over and makes his apologies, claiming there was a malfunction due to a slight power fluctuation. The Doctor frowns. “What sort of a power fluctuation?”

“No need to worry,” the steward assures them as he walks away. “Everything is under control, it was just a slight blip. Enjoy your free drinks!”

Rose tugs on his sleeve. “Doctor, never mind that. You were going to say something?”

“I know,” he says helplessly, “but this could be important. I’ll only be a minute…”

Except it isn’t. It’s much longer than a minute, in fact, and much more important than a slight blip. The Titanic has decided to take after it’s namesake, and though he tries to sound the alarm and alert the bridge, in the end all he can do is shield Rose as the ship is hammered by the impact of a meteor storm.

As the emergency lights flicker on, he helps Rose get up from her position on the floor. Coughing slightly, she glares at him. “Okay, did no one listen when I said I’d had my fill of falling down today, thanks very much?”

He shrugs, then gives a wry grin. “By the way, Rose, we’ve learned a valuable lesson just now.”

She looks at him like he’s out of his mind. “What’s that?”

Triumphant, he proclaims, “It was never the tux after all!”


	11. Revelations

The first thing to do is try and contact other survivors. The Chief Steward mistakenly thinks the best way to do this is to open the door- and is promptly sucked out into space. Rose admits that this was probably not the brightest idea, but takes an instant disliking to Rickston Slade, who feels only disdain for the dead man. The Doctor manages to get the oxygen shield back up, but it’s clear they won’t be abandoning ship anytime soon, as the TARDIS can be seen floating away towards Earth.

Finally the Doctor reaches someone on the comm. unit. Midshipman Frame informs them that the crash was deliberate, and that the engines are failing. And if they go totally dead, all life on Earth is wiped out. Rose groans and decides that the newspaper was right; London is NOT a good place to be at Christmas.

As Midshipman Frame signs off, a new voice comes over the comm. “Doctor?” The voice is fuzzy, but unmistakable.

“Jack! Good to hear from you! You alright?” Rose can hear the relief in the Doctor’s voice. She, too, is relieved, and not just because Jack is alive. If the Doctor was concerned about Jack, then their friendship might not be in as much danger as she suspected. If only they can make it through this next disaster, things might actually be okay.

Jack pauses, she can hear some heavy breathing. Then, “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Anyone else there with you?”

Longer pause. “There was… I was with this girl, Astrid, one of the waitresses here… the oxygen shield failed in our sector. She’s dead,” he finishes harshly.

The Doctor exhales sharply. “Right. But you’ve made it to an area with oxygen now, correct?”

“Yeah, I’m not that far from reception, I might be able to get to the TARDIS…”

He cuts Jack off. “Don’t bother. That whole area was caught in the collision, the TARDIS is on its way to Earth by now.”

“Then we’ve gotta stop this thing from going down. Have you managed to reach anyone on the bridge?”

“Already done, he’s going to keep the engines going until we can get there. That’s where we’re headed.”

“Then that’s where I’m headed too. Last one there buys the drinks. Over and out.”

As Jack signs off cheerfully and the Doctor turns to reassure the other passengers, Rose can almost believe that it’s just like old times. The unbeatable team. Surely things can’t have changed too much between them… can it?

* * *

On the other hand, she might not mind if _some_ things changed. Things like the Doctor trying to send her away for her own safety, when she’d much rather be with him.

“You can’t do this. Not again! I told you, I’m gonna stay with you, you need me…”

“Rose.” He reaches out and places a finger on her lips, and that’s enough to send her into a startled silence. He turns her around to face the other survivors, a party which has sadly been diminished over the course of their climb through the ship. Only Mr. Copper and Rickston Slade are left… how someone like him survived over nice people like Morvin and Foon, she’ll never understand. “_They_ need you now. I need you to get them to safety, so we can send out an S.O.S.”

She glares at him, frustrated. His plan is logical, but it feels like he had already decided to send her away and thought this up as a convenient excuse, instead of the other way around. But now he’s forced the guilt factor on her, and it would be selfish of her to cling to him when she’s needed elsewhere.

“Fine,” she mutters. “But as soon as they’re safe, I’m coming after you.”

He grins cockily at her. “ Oh, I’m counting on it. See you later!”

As he runs off, Rose shakes her head and turns to her ‘team’. “Ready to kick some Host butt?”

They make their way through several rooms and corridors of the ship, Rickston unlocking the doors and Rose dispatching the Host. Only a few rooms away from reception, a door opens to reveal another survivor. He whirls around, shouting, “Don’t shoot!”

Rose lowers the EMP disbelievingly. “Jack?” 

“Fancy meeting you here!” he grins. She looks at him a bit suspiciously.

“Thought you were heading towards the Bridge?”

“I was, but I got a little held up,” he says, gesturing around the room. Rose’s eyes widen as they take in parts of the robotic angels they’ve been fighting all night. She noticed that his clothes are ripped and stained with blood, but there doesn’t appear to be a scratch on him. 

“You went up against this many Host on your own, and survived?” she asks, amazed.

He shrugs. “Yeah, but it means I haven’t made much progress. What are you doing here?”

“We’re trying to get back to reception, try and send an S.O.S. Wanna come?”

“Love to,” Jack agrees. “I’ve even cleared the way.”

“So it would seem,” Rickston mutters from behind Rose. “What are you, the luckiest man alive?”

“Something like that.”

They make their way back to reception, and Rose starts giving instructions. “Right. Rickston, seal the doors, and Mr. Copper, keep an eye on the Host, make sure they stay down for good. Jack, can you use the computer, send an S.O.S.?”

Jack looks at the computer doubtfully. “I can try.” Despite his efforts, though, the computer stays dead. Rose clenches her fists in frustration.

“That means our only hope for survival is the Doctor. I got these two to safety, now I’m gonna help him.” As she turns to go back the way they came, Jack’s arm shoots out and stops her.

“I admire your devotion in being willing to climb all the way back down there for him, but you might want to consider taking a short cut.” He holds out a teleport bracelet to her and she grimaces.

“Right. Sorry. 21st century thinking.” As Jack gets his own bracelet on, Rose makes a call to the bridge. “Hello? Anybody there?”

A wary voice answers. “Who’s there?”

“You’re Mr. Frame, yeah? This is Rose Tyler. I’m with the Doctor. Can you give me power for the teleports?”

“No way!” He responds immediately. “I’m using everything I’ve got just to keep the engines running.”

“If the Doctor doesn’t succeed it won’t matter how long you keep the engines going, we’re gonna crash. It’s just one trip, for me and my friend,” she coaxes. “We’ve gotta get down to deck 31.”

“And I’m telling you no!”

“Listen, the Doctor’s gone down there alone,” she tells him, her voice betraying her frustration. “I have to be there, I can’t leave him. I’ll get there somehow, even if you don’t give me power, but without the teleport I might be too late.”

She can hear a sigh across the line and knows she’s won. “Fine. Giving you power.”

Jack winks at her. “Knew you could win him over.”

“Shut up,” she says playfully. In a split second, the world shifts around them and the two find themselves in an unfamiliar room, presumably located somewhere on Deck 31. In the distance, they can hear raised voices. Rose brings a finger to her lips and nods towards the open doorway. The two of them creep forward, and as the sound gets nearer it becomes clear the Doctor is involved in a heated conversation with someone. If past experience is anything to go by, it’s probably the person responsible for this whole mess.

“We should have crashed by now. What's gone wrong?” Demands the other voice petulantly. _Yep,_ thinks Rose. _Definitely the Bad Guy._

As the Doctor continues reasoning with the madman, Rose’s eyes dart around the room, searching for something she can use to help. Before she can come up with a plan, Jack tugs on her sleeve and motions towards a forklift in the corner. Rose starts towards it but Jack motions her back, indicating he’ll take care of it. She huffs impatiently- why do all the men in her life want her to watch from the sidelines?- but agrees to stay here and watch his back. Silently he slips away, and Rose turns her attention back to the conversation at hand.

“You can’t even sink the Titanic,” remarks the Doctor scornfully.

Rose’s breath catches in her throat as she hears the villain’s reply. “Oh, but I can, Doctor. I can cancel the engines from here!” All life on Earth… or at least in east London… depends on them getting this ship safely out of the range of the planet. _Jack, I hope you know what you’re doing. _

The Doctor is alarmed as well. “You can't do this!” But the android doesn’t listen, and commands his Host to kill the Doctor as the alarms proclaim doom for all on board. Rose’s heart pounds but she forces herself to stay still, give Jack a chance to work on his plan. If it doesn’t work, she’ll… she’ll… well, she doesn’t know what she’ll do but it had better be pretty spectacular.

Suddenly Jack’s voice rings loud and clear throughout the bunker. “Buddy, I really wouldn’t threaten him if I were you.” Everyone turns to gape at the captain, who is sitting tall in the forklift, aimed straight at the villain.

The head in the life-support machine snorts. “And who exactly are you?”

“Cap’n Jack Harkness, at your service.” He winks.

“Not for long,” growls the android. “Kill him as well.”

Before the last word is out of his mouth, Jack rams his foot down on the gas pedal, sending him and the forklift careening towards the life support machine. The lift rams into the machine, lifting it off the ground as one of the Host takes aim with its halo. Jack ducks slightly and the weapon misses, but it cuts something else.

As the Doctor cries out, “He's cut the break line!” Rose rushes forward, shocked, but she’s too late. The forklift pushes the villain over the edge, but unable to stop, follows it into the fiery depths.

_ **"Jack!"** _

Rose rushes to the edge of the cliff, reaching out blindly, but Jack is too far away. She can still make him out through her tears, falling, always falling, and for a second she thinks she is going to follow him.

Strong arms circle her waist, pulling her away from oblivion. She lashes out in anger and fear, but they don’t let go until she is a safe distance away from the edge. “Let me go!”

“We have to get away from here,” the Doctor tells her urgently. “We have to get to the bridge, we have to save the ship…”

“But Jack!” She cries desperately. “You let him die! You let him die and you didn’t even tell him why you abandoned him! How could you? _How?”_

“Rose, there’s no time to explain but I _promise_ you, Jack will be alright. Do you hear me? He’ll be alright. Trust me.” Rose gulps hot tears down her throat, forces herself to move, and wonders, not for the first time, _How can I?_

* * *

Somehow, they end up on the bridge. The Doctor saves the day yet again, but for Rose the victory of saving thousands of lives is tainted by the loss of just one. She refuses to look at the Doctor, instead secluding herself in a corner until they are safely back in space. Instead of giving her time to grieve, however, as soon as he is free the Doctor comes and takes her hand.

“Come with me.”

She snatches it back harshly, snapping, “Why should I?” A tiny rational part of her mind tells her it’s not really the Doctor’s fault Jack died, it’s not like he _wanted_ him to die, and he must be hurting too, but that part of her is overwhelmed by her grief and anger.

The look he gives her is steady and unwavering, not returning any of the anger she’s lashed out, simply absorbing her fury. “Because we’re going to get Jack back.”

She doesn’t take his hand again, but she follows behind him, unwilling to admit she’s found a spark of hope.

They enter reception, the Doctor snapping out instructions as soon as they walk through the door. “Rickston! Sonic!” He catches the device in his hand and turns towards the other survivor. “Mr. Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?”

The elderly man looks confused. “I don't know. They should have.”

“What’s the emergency code?” he asks.

“What the hell are you doing?” demands Midshipman Frame.

As the Doctor answers, he glances at Rose. “I can bring him back.” As he gets to work on the teleport, Rose turns to Mr. Copper for answers.

“What does he mean?” she whispers, hardly daring to hope. “Can he save Jack?”

The old man hesitates. “Well, if a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis so that we can just trigger the shift. So if your friend Jack was wearing one…”

As Rose tries to take this in, the Doctor cries out triumphantly. “There!” She whirls around, to see Jack materialize in the room.

But he’s only halfway there.

Rose halts in her dash to hug her friend. “But he’s… he’s transparent. Like a ghost. Where’s the rest of him?”

Mr. Copper shakes his head sadly. “I’m afraid the system was too badly damaged. It was only able to retrieve some of his molecules… he’s just atoms, Rose.”

She glances at the Doctor in despair, but the look he gives her is patient. “Just wait.”

She looks back at Jack’s ghostly figure again. To her astonishment, his body begins to fill in, becoming more and more solid as she watches. As Mr. Copper exclaims, “That’s impossible!” she rushes into his arms.

Tears trace their way down her cheeks for a second time today, but this time she doesn’t mind. It may be impossible that Jack has just come back to life, but she doesn’t care, as long as he’s here. _Alive._

“Hey, now, hey,” Jack murmurs into her hair. “You didn’t think I was gonna leave you for good, did ya?” She just laughs and pulls him tighter.

After what seems like too short a time they are interrupted by a sharp cough from Mr. Copper. Rose pulls away, confused, then suddenly understands his problem. She starts laughing harder.

Jack’s body may somehow have regenerated itself, but the same is not true of his clothes. They were still only half-there, and as soon as Rose hugged him the molecules had collapsed and fallen into dust on the floor. Jack glances down at the remains of his clothing.

“Oh,” he says, mildly disappointed. “I really liked that coat.”

“Bit more drastic than a defabricator, eh?” The Doctor remarks, shaking his head.

As Mr. Copper is still looking on seeming very affronted, Rose hastens to reassure him. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Can’t really help it if you hang around with him.” Despite her intentions, the gentleman does not appear to be reassured.

Rose takes a deep breath to steady herself but can’t help feeling drained. It’s difficult to go from excitement to sorrow to fury to joy and amusement all in quick succession, and everything has taken its toll on her. Before she can do anything else, though, she has to get something cleared up.

“Right, Doctor,” she says, addressing him for the first time since the miracle. “Answer me this, short as you can for now, but answer me. How did Jack come back to life?”

He takes a deep breath, blows it out, and gives her the shortest answer imaginable. Just two words, but they’re enough. “Bad Wolf.”

Somehow, although the event happened on the Gamestation, his bringing up Bad Wolf is the last thing she expected. She remembers very little about it, although the Doctor had explained to her some of what happened later. He told her she’d absorbed the Time Vortex and used it to destroy the Daleks, but that’s about it. For some reason she hadn’t really thought about it since, except to brag to the Daleks about defeating their Emperor, and for the first time she wonders if that is his doing.

She takes a moment to absorb the implications of his statement, then sets them aside for later. “You’re going to follow up on that statement as soon as we’ve got the time. Now… what about getting back to the TARDIS?”

* * *

Several hours after their departure but months before the incident with the Titanic, the TARDIS materializes once again in Cardiff. The Doctor is the first to poke his head out for a look around. “Not bad,” he remarks. “Maybe a few hours after you left but I expect your team won’t be calling the missing persons department just yet.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. They can be a rather paranoid bunch… but then, we’ve got reason to be,” Jack says with an ironic grin.

Rose follows the two of them out, looking decidedly drained and a little disappointed. “You sure you don’t want to come with us again? Just a little spin round the universe?”

Jack shakes his head, somewhat regretfully. “Nah. It’s been fun, having an adventure with you two again, but I’ve made a life for myself here. Got responsibilities- something I never thought I’d say, back in the old days. But you keep that phone close, you hear?”

She pats the pocket with said phone inside. “Will do.”

Rose grins as the Doctor goes to shake Jack’s hand and gets pulled into a hug. For the first time this evening, they seem to be at peace with each other, and that’s fantastic.

The Doctor steps back and Rose goes in for her hug. When they part, she murmurs, “I’m sorry I can’t undo it. I’m still willing to try…”

Jack places his fingers on her lips, silencing her. “Enough apologizing. You said it all back there, a thousand times, and my answer is the same. I don’t want you risking your life again, not for me.”

She nods, blinking back tears before they threaten to overwhelm her again. Jack may have made his peace with what she’s done, but it will be some time before she can come to terms with it. Even so, she’s glad to finally know the truth.

“But what’re you going to do?” she whispers.

He shrugs, then gives her that amazing smile. “Live.” He backs away, still smiling, and salutes them both. “See you soon.” With that, he vanishes off into the Cardiff night.

Rose breaths out a heavy sigh and turns back to the TARDIS, thinking only of her bed. It’s been an exhausting day. Before she reaches the door, she feels a hand fall tentatively on her shoulder.

She looks up to see the Doctor gazing at her searchingly, trying to hide his anxiety. “Rose. Are we good?”

She thinks back over the day, how frustrated she was with him for keeping the truth from her, for leaving Jack behind, for being stubborn and selfish and thinking he knows best. And she thinks about the long hours in the TARDIS, when he finally told them what happened, what she had done and what his response was, answering every question put to him (a rarity in itself). She remembers that he was willing to die for her (for _her_!). And while it doesn’t excuse his actions, at least it’s a start.

“Yeah,” she says softly. “We’re good.”


	12. Poisonous

“I can’t believe you’re letting me do this.”

“Neither can I,” responds the Doctor ruefully. “Mind that dial…”

Rose deftly turns the dial in question to the right, then glances up at him, grinning. “You know what this means. You won’t be able to send me away in the TARDIS again. I’ll just come and find you now.”

“Oi!” he protests. “Said I wouldn’t do that anymore, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, well, best to have insurance, anyway,” she says airily. She reaches over him and flips a couple of levers down, concentrating on getting them to their destination.

He frowns at her light-mannered response, which indicates that she hasn’t really taken his promise seriously. She still doesn’t think she can count on him 100%. _Have to do something about that. _

“Rose.”

She doesn’t look up. “Mmm?”

“Look at me.” She raises her eyes to his, curious. “I meant what I said. I won’t send you away any more.” She frowns slightly but he hurries to talk over her. “Okay, yes, there was the Titanic but there _were_ people in trouble and you can’t expect me to change overnight. Anyway, that was months ago… but the point is… if we’re separated again… it won’t be by my choice.”

She gazes up at him, the controls forgotten. “You know, I think you really mean that,” she says wonderingly.

His eyebrows raise in surprise. “Well, ‘course I mean it, I…” He suddenly finds it difficult to say any more, because without warning Rose’s lips are upon his. It’s a shy kiss, the first time Rose has initiated anything like this between them, but now that it’s happening neither of them seems to want to stop. All the reasons why they shouldn’t be doing this have flown out of his head, and he finds himself leaning in to deepen the contact when… hang on, are those alarms ringing?

Rose pulls away like lightning, blushing a deep scarlet. _“Crap!”_ she exclaims, dashing away to crank a handle. He rushes to help her, and together they steer the TARDIS away from making a dent in the 1800’s. _Note to self: Do not attempt to initiate intimate conversations while Rose is flying the TARDIS._

Finally they get things calmed down and set a drifting course. Rose is still blushing, not looking at him. “We’re just gonna pretend that didn’t happen, yeah?” She mumbles, not sounding entirely enthusiastic about the idea.

The Doctor shrugs, and attempts to take things in a calm and logical manner. “Why should we?” When she gives him an astounded look he hastens to explain. “It’s not like we haven’t… kissed… before, is it? Done it loads of times. Well, four. Well, three if you don’t count Cassandra… the point is, no big deal.” Her surprise gives way to something akin to fury, and he hastily backtracks. “No, that is to say… what I meant was…” He stutters, then sighs. “I’m just digging myself deeper, aren’t I.”

“You got that right, mate,” she confirms.

For once, he doesn’t know what to do next. Rose is standing there, looking angry and so adorable. His heartbeat has increased, drumming out a rhythm saying _Go on, go on, go on_… It’s a feeling of daring and curiosity he’s felt before when faced with something new and fantastic, but has usually managed to suppress around her. Not anymore. _And why should I?_ He thinks giddily. _Isn’t it about time something went right for me, for a change?_ Encouraged by these thoughts, he leans in once more and gives voice to a line possibly more cheesy than _I think you need a doctor._

“Then I’ll have to make it up to you.”

For one glorious moment they are connected, sharing an intimacy he never expected to have with another person again. Something about this feels complete, and he knows now that he would not be able to bear losing her. As his fingers reach to twine in her hair, their second exploration is interrupted by the annoying jingle of a phone.

Rose breathes heavily as she leans on the consol and pulls her phone from her pocket. Flipping it open, she growls one word. “Jack.” At any other time they would have been overjoyed to receive a call from their friend, but at the moment… well. Perhaps there is some truth to what Rose says about his dreadful timing.

Rose flips open her phone and beings talking to the captain. “Yeah… really? That’s… well, sorry, we’ve been, um, busy… yeah, I know… right. Soon as possible.” She hangs up, looking defeated.

He looks at her expectantly. “Well?”

“Well, apparently 53 people all over the world died in their cars at the exact same moment this morning. Jack thought his team could handle it, whatever it was, but now the Torchwood sensors have picked up a massive, unknown invasion fleet heading towards the Earth and he decided to give us a call.” 

“Right.” He shuffles uncomfortably. “I suppose we’d better be off then.”

“Yeah,” she mutters, looking disappointed as he gets the TARDIS in gear and sets a course for Earth.

* * *

It turns out that, although Rose is getting better at flying the TARDIS, she’s absolutely rubbish at driving a car. “Never had one, growing up,” she explained. “Couldn’t afford it. We always took the bus.” So although it’s been a while since the Doctor has driven one of these contraptions, he becomes the designated driver. And in Rose’s opinion, he’s going far too fast for comfort.

“Remind me again why we’re barreling towards this academy at breakneck speed?” she asks, clutching at the door handle.

“Because,” the Doctor explains patiently, “Luke Rattigan is the kid genius who invented ATMOS. Supposedly. Jack and his team couldn’t spare anyone else, they’re trying to open one of those devices and pick up the signal of that fleet again.”

“I meant, why are we going there so fast?”

He takes his eyes off the road to look at her, and she immediately regrets asking the question. “Because we’re short on time. Frankly, Jack should have called us in hours ago. Dunno why he didn’t, can’t expect him to deal with everything on his own…” Rose points wildly at the road and he glances back, swerving to get in the center of the lane again.

She slumps back in her seat. “Remind me never to get in a car with you again.”

“I’ll put it on my to-do list.”

“Why couldn’t we have taken the TARDIS?” She whines.

“You’re full of questions today, aren’t you. Anyway, chances are that the invaders have the technology to pick up the TARDIS’ energy transmissions. She’s safe in the Hub, it’s shielded, but anywhere else and they might pick up on it. Can’t risk that technology falling into someone else’s hands.”

“No, we wouldn’t want that, would we? Rather die in a car crash than risk that,” she huffs. “Look, even this ATMOS thingy is telling you to slow down!”

“Since when have I been know to listen to simple human machines?”

* * *

Back at the Hub, Gwen was throwing everything in Torchwood’s inventory at this silly little device. So far, none of it had had any effect. They could pretty much rule out that it was from Earth now, anything of terrestrial origin would have cracked long ago.

Gwen picks up another one of their gadgets, something from a ship that crashed not too long ago. They hadn’t been able to work out what it did yet; when they tested it, it seemed to have no effect on anything. Still, worth a try…

She points the object at the ATMOS device and switches what they thought was the on-button. At first Gwen thought nothing had happened, but after a few seconds spikes shot out of one side of the device and began releasing some sort of gas. She took one whiff and scrunched up her face. Not good. Better go tell Jack…

* * *

Minutes later and several miles away, the Doctor’s car stops responding. It simply slows down and pulls to a stop, losing all power. He frowns and turns to Rose. “Did you touch something?”

“No, don’t think so. Bet the car just got fed up with you,” she teases. She takes a deep breath and makes a face. “Doctor, can you smell that?”

“What?”

“Smells like… Mickey’s three-day-old laundry. Ugh.”

“When did you have the opportunity to smell Mickey’s laundry?” Reconsidering, he says, “Don’t answer that. I better go check the engine.”

He reaches for the door, only to find it locked. No matter what he does, it won’t budge. Rose tries her door, with the same result. He fumbles for the sonic screwdriver, but it’s ineffective against the doors. “It’s deadlock sealed! I can’t get it open!”

Rose has squirmed round in her seat to look behind them. “Doctor! Look,” she cries, pointing to the back of the car. A cloud of gas has formed behind them, probably streaming from the tailpipe. a second stream of gas is slowly filling up the cab of the car.

“Definitely _not_ environmentally friendly, then,” he mutters, turning the screwdriver to the windows. He tries a resonation pattern, seeing if he can shatter them, but it’s no use. Everything inside the car is deadlocked. Physical force might work, but they have nothing in the car to swing at the windows. He can’t even crash into a tree and get them out that way because the power’s gone off. Grimly he stares at the silhouette of the Academy, not too far off in the distance. _So close…_

To his left, Rose begins coughing. “M’not feelin’ so good, Doctor,” she mumbles, eyes beginning to close. Hurriedly he reaches for her hand.

“No, no Rose, don’t fall asleep. You’ve got to stay awake. Just breathe slowly. Come on,” he pleads, even as he watches the gas get thicker and thicker. His respiratory bypass system has already kicked in, but Rose is not so lucky. A mix of carbon dioxide and other elements is replacing the oxygen in the air, and she has minutes left before it becomes lethal. He can’t lose her like this. “Come on!”

As her breathing begins to still, he lowers his mouth to hers and begins giving her some of his reserve oxygen. But this won’t buy them much time, seconds at most, and now he is beginning to feel faint as well. Dimly he thinks he can hear a buzzing off in the distance, somewhat like a motorbike. No time to worry about that now, have to save Rose. He continues to give her the last of his oxygen.

Just when it seems like his lungs are entirely empty and he too begins to pass out, a loud _crash _startles him to wakefulness. The windshield shatters inwards, smashed by a metal baseball bat, and now two arms reach in to help. “Take her,” he gasps, shoving Rose out of the toxic car and into their savior’s arms. Heaving another breath of fresher air, he too stumbles out into the murky sunlight.

He is not surprised to see the Anomaly standing there, holding a gas-mask to Rose’s mouth.

“You again,” he coughs, staring.

“Me again,” she confirms. She motions towards her transport, the motorbike. “Take it to the academy. There’s a terraforming device there, you can use it to clear away the gas. The invaders are Sontarans… I’m sure you can handle it from there.”

The Doctor hesitates, noting that Rose is still unconscious in the Anomaly’s arms. “ But what about…”

“I’ll take care of her,” the girl assures him, motioning towards the bike again. “Go!”

Glancing back one last time, he hops on the motorbike and speeds away.

* * *

The Sontarans are not longer a threat. A bomb set on a remote timer sent through the teleport has made sure of that. He told her he wasn’t going to leave her, and he wasn’t going to risk that for a Sontaran fleet. Not anymore. As for the gas, that idiot child prodigy’s terraforming device seems to have done the trick.

He thought that by now nothing the Anomaly did would surprise him, but coming down the steps from the Academy, he realized that he had been wrong. There, on the front lawn, stood the TARDIS.

He walked quickly up to the police box and threw open the door, to find the Anomaly staring up at the center column, fascinated, her hand grazing over the top of some of the controls. When she hears him enter she turns, and smiles. “You have a beautiful ship.”

“I’ve always thought so,” he replies, trying to be casual. “You, ah… you flew her here, did you?” He tries to stifle his annoyance at the thought of a stranger flying his ship.

“No, she came on her own,” the girl says nonchalantly. “Or rather, my ship asked her to come, and she agreed. It was more convenient.”

He brightens at the mention of her ship. “You have a TARDIS?”

But she shakes her head. “No. This is the first time I’ve been in one. She has a wonderful melody,” she adds wistfully.

The Doctor frowns. There are so many strange things about this girl… but for now, there is something more pressing on his mind than his curiosity. “Where’s Rose?”

“She’s fine, she’s asleep in the Medbay.”

His hearts begin to pound as he takes long strides towards the corridor leading to the Medbay. “The gas shouldn’t have kept her out that long. Something must be wrong…”

He reaches the medical unit with the girl hurrying after him. Sure enough, Rose is still asleep. He reaches to take her pulse, and finds it strong and steady. So why is she still out?

“Doctor, she’s fine,” the Anomaly assures him. “I simply gave her a mild sedative. She’ll wake up in a few hours, no harm done.”

He turns on his guest, shocked and more than a little angry. “Why would you do that? She should be fine! She didn’t need to be sedated!”

To her credit, the girl remains calm. “As I said, she’ll be fine. I wanted to talk to you, alone.”

“So you drugged her?” he repeats, bordering on the edge of fury. “Anything you can say to me, you can say in front of Rose.”

A sad, resigned look comes into her eyes as she gives her reply. “No. I can’t. Her presence might… complicate things.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, things have gotten pretty complicated already.”

“That doesn’t matter now. I’m sorry, Doctor, but I failed. So now it’s up to you to put it right.”

He narrows his gaze, trying to glimpse some rational meaning in her words. “Are you going to stop being cryptic and tell me what this is all about?”

She manages a faint smile. “Yeah. I’m going to tell you as much as I can.”

They leave Rose to her dreams in the Medbay and make their way back to the console room. The Doctor notices the Anomaly trailing a hand against the wall of the corridor as they go, bringing another question to his mind. How does a girl who must have grown up on Gallifrey manage to never see a TARDIS? He asks her as much once they reach their destination.

“I have never been to Gallifrey,” she says distantly, still lost in her thoughts. Then she catches herself and focuses again. “But my past is irrelevant to this conversation.”

“Seems pretty relevant to me,” he remarks.

“You’re not the one giving the explanation. Besides, if everything goes well you’ll know everything soon anyway.”

“All right. One impossible thing at a time,” he decides. “First: you’ve been interfering with my timeline. Why?”

“Because the timeline is unstable. This isn’t the way things were supposed to happen, not originally,” she explains.

“And how do you know that?” he inquires.

“Because I’m from the original timeline. That’s when we met, originally. Technically, I shouldn’t even exist in this strand of space-time, but something or someone has buffered my timeline. I haven’t been able to figure that one out yet,” she says apologetically.

He begins to pace the room, thinking hard. “So someone, or something, sent you here to fix the timeline, but you haven’t been able to.”

“Yeah.”

“The question is, why? Ignoring the fact that it would take enormous power to buffer someone like that, what’s the motive? Because history is changing all the time, especially under the influence of time-travelers. Usually it doesn’t make that big of an impact, the timeline is back to normal within a few hundred years or so. On the other hand, if the change would have a catastrophic impact, then the Reapers show up and correct the change. I haven’t met any Reapers lately, so if what you’re telling me about an alternate timeline is true, then it shouldn’t be all that harmful in the long run. Why change it?”

“That’s the thing, Doctor. The change _is_ catastrophic. We just haven’t reached that bit yet,” she snaps, sounding frustrated. “There’s something coming, something I can’t see. But it’s total destruction, and afterwards… nothing.”

Hearing this, he turns his attention to the timelines, searching for an indication of the destruction she mentions. The possibilities are endless, but he sees nothing to confirm what the Anomaly has told him. “I don’t see anything indicating the kind of destruction you’re talking about. Still, even if there’s something I’m not seeing, what about the Reapers?”

“Reapers don’t always physically manifest,” she reminds him sadly. “They can influence the world in other ways, and they’ve been working on this timeline for the past few years, trying to remove one of the people at the heart of the problem.”

His stomach clenches and his heartrates double. He has a sudden, inexplicable dread of what she is about to tell him, yet still he finds himself asking, “Who is that?”

With infinite sympathy in her eyes she gives him the answer. “Rose Tyler.”

“No,” he snaps harshly. He has the feeling that as long as he denies it, it won’t be true. It can’t be true. Not Rose.

“I’m sorry, Doctor, but it’s true. I’ve pinpointed the moment the timeline skewed off course- it was during the Battle of Canary Wharf. Rose’s continued presence in this universe has caused a catastrophic change, somehow wiping out the chance we had of defeating what’s coming. You have to put things back the way they were!”

He isn’t listening. His mind is far away, in dreams and visions. Rose, falling away into a bright light… he realizes now that it is a vision of how things could have been, had she lost her grip on the lever. Torn away from him, far beyond his reach… into _hell_. He won’t let that vision become reality.

“I’m not going to lose her,” he growls.

“You haven’t got a choice!”

His own words echo in his mind. _If we’re separated again… it won’t be by my choice._

“There’s always a choice. If the choice is between letting Rose die in the Void or trying to go on as we are…. I choose her. We’ve saved the universe before, and we can do it again. The future isn’t set in stone.”

The Anomaly’s eyes widen as she backs away from him. “I didn’t say she would die!”

“What other outcome is there?” he demands, desperation creeping into his voice. “She was falling… I _remember_ her falling…”

The girl shakes her head. “I don’t know what happened to her… I wasn’t there. But there is this, I can show you…” she trails off and reaches her hands out to his temples, ready to exchange thoughts.

After so long, he has the chance to connect with another mind like his, but he finds himself balking at the idea. He has adjusted to the silence in his head, he can’t imagine adjusting to the loss of the human girl who has come to mean everything to him. He has no idea where this Anomaly came from, but she is definitely a Time Lord, and there is the possibility she might have one of those minds strong enough to _force_ him to agree with her. He can’t risk that.

If the Reapers are after Rose, then they will just have to be more careful. He can protect her. The Anomaly has been helping them, but now that he knows what’s happening, he can take over. The future is not inevitable. _(He hopes.)_

Decision made, he shoves her hands away. “I don’t want you in my mind. In fact, I don’t want you on my ship. You’ve done enough.” He makes an effort to restrain his emotion as he directs her to the door.

Outside on the lawn, she turns to him for a final time. Her eyes glisten with unshed tears. “Don’t make me do this, Doctor,” she pleads.

He refuses to give in. “I’m not making you do anything. You always have a choice. But thank you for your help, such as it was.” With that, he closes the door on her and stalks up the ramp to initiate the take-off sequence.

When they are safely in the Vortex, he begins breathing deeply again. Conflicting emotions run rampant through him, and for a moment all he can think is, _What have I done?_

Needing reassurance, he walks towards the MedBay. She is still there, looking innocent in her sleep. As he watches her, something selfish inside him answers, _You saved her. That’s all that matters._

He finds himself believing it.

For now.

* * *

On the lawn of Luke Rattigan’s academy, the girl called the Anomaly stares at the place where the TARDIS disappeared. Taking a shaky breath, she turns and begins walking away, in the direction of her ship. Unseen to anyone but her, her companion shimmers into place beside her.

“How did it go?”

The girl shakes her head and wipes her eyes, not looking at her friend. “He wouldn’t listen to me.”

“I’m sorry, Jen,” her companion murmurs. After a moment, she asks hesitantly, “What are you going to do now?”

“Nothing. I’m going to do nothing,” she replies, forcing herself to take a deep breath. After a moment, she continues softly, “I’m going to let nature take its course.”


	13. Midnight Sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so... this chapter involves major character death. I didn't tag it for the overall fic because it's not permanent and is undone almost immediately, but you should be able to stop halfway through this chapter and go to the next one if you don't want to read about it actually happening.

Rose comes to consciousness slowly, savoring the last few moments of sleep the way you do on a Saturday morning with no work and no responsibilities, just the whole day stretching before you. She feels extremely well rested, like she’s slept for a week, so it’s something of a surprise to her when she blinks open her eyes and finds herself in the MedBay. Mentally she takes inventory of her body, but everything feels fine, so she allows herself to sit up and have a look around.

The lights are on low, but she can still make out the Doctor, sitting in a chair across the room. He is staring off into space with a troubled expression, and doesn’t appear to have noticed that she is awake. Not wanting to alarm him, she calls out softly, “Doctor?”

He looks up and for a moment he is back with her, the same as always, but as she watches something dark rolls in behind his expression. In a voice that is carefully neutral, he states the obvious. “Rose. You’re awake.”

“Yeah,” she answers, somewhat confused. “Did I fall asleep?”

“For a little while,” he tells her. “It was the gas, back on Earth, do you remember?”

Vaguely her mind skips back and settles on a scene: the car filling up with gas, choking on her own breath, the intense relief of oxygen as she was carried in a stranger’s arms. A girl, stronger than she should have been… it brings a question to mind. “What happened to her? That girl, the Anomaly. Did she disappear again?”

“Yes.” He hesitates only a fraction of a second before giving her the answer, but it’s enough for her to realize there is something going on that he isn’t telling her. Her first instinct is to demand answers, but one look at his face and she decides to forget about that for now. Something is troubling him, and if she gives him the Spanish Inquisition he’ll only deny everything and draw further into himself. A different tactic is needed here.

“Listen, why don’t we take a break for a few days? Like a holiday or something,” she suggests carefully.

For a moment she thinks he is going to question her sudden need for a vacation, but he only nods and says, “That’s probably a good idea. We’ve had enough monsters for a while. I’ll go set the coordinates.”

As he goes to pick their destination, Rose calls after him, “Somewhere with sunbathing!” After he is gone she slumps back on the cot and sighs. Something is wrong, and her cheerful attempt to make things seem normal hasn’t done much good at all. Maybe while they’re on vacation he will loosen up and tell her what’s on his mind.

_And maybe Jack will take a vow of celibacy,_ a distant part of her mind snorts. _Not bloody likely._

* * *

Rose wants a holiday, well, a holiday she’ll get. She wants to work on her tan, and usually that means a beach, but he can’t help but feel that beaches are a bad idea right now. There’s no real reason why, it’s just a feeling… but all the same he’ll take her somewhere else. Somewhere much more interesting and exotic: the Leisure Palace on Midnight.

She’s amazingly enthusiastic about it. Like many girls, Rose likes beautiful things, and the planet Midnight is one of the most beautiful and mysterious places in this galaxy. Diamond waterfalls, sapphire cliffs, and all of it entirely out of reach because of the deadly rays of the sun. This last point is also what makes the Leisure Palace one of the safest resorts for them to visit- there is no life on Midnight, other than the tourists. No monsters to snatch her away from him.

However, after a day or so the comforts of the Leisure Palace begin to seem confining. He attempts to mask his restlessness, but it’s obvious that Rose is feeling it too. So when she suggests taking one of the fabled Crusader Tours to see a sapphire waterfall, he is quick to agree. Yes, it means traveling through miles of deadly sunlight, unshielded except for the small bus, but it’s doubtful that anything would happen during the trip to endanger them. The xtonic sunlight will protect them from any outside threat. The most they have to fear is mechanical failure, which is not only extremely unlikely but also quickly dealt with by the sonic screwdriver, or a rescue team if that fails.

So they board the cruiser with their fellow passengers and soon it is wagons roll, allons-y, let’s get the show on the road.

It is the beginning of the end.

* * *

She’s intensely relieved when he shuts down the entertainment system. How anyone could stand the bombardment of disjointed sounds and colors for four hours without going completely mad was beyond Rose’s comprehension. So it means they’ll have to talk to each other, fine. Gives her a chance to work on her social skills.

And there’s someone who needs cheering up, she sees. The blond woman has her nose in a book, patiently ignoring the other passengers and giving off the impression that she’d like to be left alone in turn. Of course, Rose ignores that completely.

“Hey,” she says, dropping into the seat next to the woman. “I’m Rose, Rose Tyler. What’s your name?”

The woman glances up politely. “I’m Skye. Skye Silvestre.”

“Nice to meet you, Skye,” Rose says warmly. “So… you here with anyone? Vacation, or something?”

“No, it’s just me,” Skye replies thinly. “You?”

“Yeah, I’m with this friend of mine, the Doctor…” she glances around; he’s talking with that graduate assistant, Dee Dee. Searching for something to say, Rose comes up with, “So, you’re on your own, then?” and instantly regrets it. Of course she is, she’s already said as much, but too late to take the words back now. So much for social skills.

“Yes. I… I’ve found myself single rather recently, not by choice,” she says distantly.

“Oh? What’d he do, then?”

“_She_,” Skye emphasized, “said she needed her own space. A different galaxy, in fact. I think that’s enough space, don’t you?”

Rose winces inwardly. She’s put her foot in it again. She casts about for a way to empathize, and suddenly her mind rests on Mickey. “Yeah. I had this… this friend… he moved to a different universe entirely,” she tells Skye. It’s been awhile since she let her thoughts dwell on Mickey and the other universe. She is surprised that this time the memory is not as painful as it would have been a few months ago. Maybe she is finally moving on.

Apparently Skye is uncomfortable, for she changes the subject abruptly by referring to the lunch packets in front of them. “Now what’s this, chicken or beef?”

Rose examines her share. “Looks like it could be both,” she says with distaste. “Mind you, it can’t be as bad as this one place I went, they had beef-flavored milkshakes…” She finds herself able to ramble aimlessly, filling up the silence with her words, and thinks distantly that she can understand why this Doctor, at least, talks all the time. She doesn’t suspect that, just a few miles away, the shadow that will silence him is moving closer and closer.

* * *

There’s been some trouble with the engines, says the Hostess. Well, that’s obvious, because they’ve stopped. The Doctor goes up to the cabin to see what’s gone wrong, but Rose stays behind rather than get lost in all the technobabble that will surely ensue. She soon regrets this decision, because it becomes clear that her fellow passengers are on the verge of panic.

The atmosphere in the cabin is becoming increasingly tense, and when the Doctor steps back into the cabin that seems to be the catalyst for all hell to break loose. Someone mentions the air supply, and suddenly there’s a panic that they’re all going to suffocate. Everyone begins to shout at once, which, Rose thinks, wouldn’t be very wise if there actually were a limited supply of air. No one else seems to realize this because the shouting continues until…

“QUIET!” Trust the Doctor to be able to shut everyone up. She remembers that time at the 2012 Olympics and places her finger to her lips, grinning underneath. He casts a glance her way and grins as well before announcing, “Now if you’d all care to listen to my good friend, Dee Dee.”

The graduate student looks uncomfortable at suddenly being the center of attention and stammers, “Oh! Um... it's just that... well, the air's on a circular filter so... we could stay breathing for ten years.”

The Doctor looks relieved. “There you go! And I've spoken to the Captain, I can guarantee you, everything's fine.”

It’s a bit hard to believe that when something outside starts knocking on the walls.

* * *

It’s not fine. It’s not fine at all. Somehow, despite the xtonic sunlight, despite all the precautions he’s taken to keep her safe, still the monsters have found them. He doesn’t know what it is out there, and right now he doesn’t much care, as long as it stays out and they stay in. But that’s starting to look more and more unlikely.

As the knocking increases and the passengers begin panicking, he has to will himself not to give in to the terror creeping at the edges of his mind. It is all too easy for him to identify with Skye Silvestre, who is crying out in horror, “It’s coming for me! It’s coming for _me!_” Even though he is sure that Ms. Silvestre is not, in fact, the intended target.

It’s coming for Rose.

* * *

It’s dark. That’s the first thing Rose realizes. The second is that there’s a sharp pain in her head, and the third is that the knocking on the walls has finally stopped. It remains to be seen whether this is a good thing or not.

She hears the Doctor’s voice and is reassured, despite the fact that just talking doesn’t make their situation better. “Everyone alright? Rose?” he calls, extra panic creeping into his voice when he says her name.

“Yeah, I’m here, I’m fine,” she responds.

The other passengers call out reassurances, and it seems like everyone is okay. Wait, no. There’s one person who hasn’t called out yet.

“What about Skye?” Rose asks, suddenly worried. “Skye? You all right?”

The Hostess passes out emergency torches, and in the dim light Rose can see that Skye is huddled unmoving by the wall. Remembering how frightened the woman had been in the moments before the blackout, Rose hastens to reassure her.

“Listen, it’s alright, we’re all fine. Look, nothing’s got in, the wall’s still there… Skye?”

She takes a step towards he woman, intent on offering more reassurances when a light from behind her blinds the room. There’s screaming involved and she guesses someone must have opened the door. They’ll all be dead in a moment…

Except they’re not. Must be a failsafe, because the door reseals itself and everything is fine again. Well, as fine as it can get in a ruined tour bus on the surface of an uninhabitable planet. With the door closed, the Doctor goes to investigate the wall panel, and comes to the awful conclusion that the cabin is gone.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, “they've been reduced to dust. The driver and the mechanic. But they sent a distress signal. Help is on its way. They saved our lives! We're gonna get out of here, I promise. We're still alive, and they're gonna find us.” Is it her imagination, or does he seem just a tad doubtful about the reassurances he’s just made? Never mind, there are other things to consider.

“Right,” says Rose, “but, Doctor, what about her?” She motions to Skye, whom everyone else seems to have forgotten.

“Right, yes, sorry, have we got a medical kit?” He asks, looking around.

“I don’t think she’s hurt,” Rose says, worried, “She just won’t turn round. Maybe she’s in shock?”

The teen, Jethro, has a different idea. “That noise, from the outside. It’s stopped.”

“Thank goodness for that!” exclaims his mother.

“Yes, but… what if it’s not outside anymore? What if it’s inside?”

“Inside? Where?”

Jethro points at Skye. “It was heading for her.”

Rose freezes. She’d like to laugh it off, say that’s not possible, but she knows all too well that it _is_ possible to become possessed. Slitheen, Cassandra, even the sun… So yes, it’s definitely possible that Skye is not really Skye anymore.

But maybe not. Maybe she really is in shock, just afraid. Rose calls out, “Skye? It’s alright now… you can turn around.” She takes a few more steps towards the woman. “Just… take it easy. Turn around. Face me, that’s it.”

Slowly, the huddled form turns round. Rose stifles a gasp as the woman’s eyes dart round the room, uncomprehending. She’s never seen a person who looked so much like a cornered animal.

The Doctor comes up behind Rose and places a hand protectively on her shoulder. “Stay back,” he murmurs in a voice that leaves no room for argument. She’s only too happy to let him take over from here.

“Skye?” He asks, sounding calm.

“Skye?” Skye repeats, in exactly the same tone.

“Are you alright?” Asks the Doctor.

“Are you alright?” she repeats again.

“Are you hurt?”

“Are you hurt?”

Rose’s stomach drops as Skye continues to repeat everything that the Doctor says to her. And not just the Doctor- everyone. Every single person in the bus finds that his or her words are repeated perfectly by whatever is controlling Skye- for it’s clear that, whatever happened, this isn’t really Skye anymore.

Whatever this creature is, it’s learning.

* * *

After a few moments “conversation” with whatever is now controlling Ms. Silvestre, the panic the Doctor initially felt begins to die down. Huddled there, repeating after the passengers, it poses no direct threat to Rose or anyone else. There is no guarantee, but perhaps it truly doesn’t mean any harm. Perhaps it is simply a new kind of life-form, a mysterious thing no one has discovered or is able to understand. Perhaps this is it’s way of learning the language and attempting to converse with them- it is possible it did not realize that the xtonic rays would hurt the driver and the mechanic, since it seems to be impervious to them itself. Perhaps.

So for now, on the chance that it is innocent, he will try to protect the being. But if it shows any signs of posing an actual threat, especially to Rose… well. Worry about that when the time comes.

* * *

No, it’s more than learning, it’s got to be. Because somehow, impossibly, Skye is now able to repeat everything at the exact same time as it is said. She speaks in unison with everyone, knows exactly what they are going to say before they finish saying it. Impossible.

Rose has long since become resigned to the fact that, when you’re with the Doctor, nothing is ever really impossible.

No one else has learned this, though. They’re panicked and frightened, with good reason. No one understands what’s happening, not even the Doctor, and that can be the most frightening thing in all the universe- the unknown. The Professor keeps insisting that there can’t be anything possessing Skye, because there is no life on Midnight. No one else is reassured by this, or even by the Doctor’s promises that the rescue ship should be coming soon. Still, it’s a shock to Rose when the Hostess comes up with one horrifying solution.

“We should throw her out.”

The worst bit of it is, everyone seems to find this the most reassuring idea yet. The Doctor and Rose are dead set against it, but Val, Biff, the Hostess, and Dee Dee agree this is the best option. Dee Dee points out that they have enough time to throw someone out when they open the door, because the pressure seal holds for about six seconds.

The Doctor is enraged. “Now, listen, all of you,” he shouts at the little band of survivors. “For all we know that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, than what's it found? This little bunch of humans, what d'you amount to? Murder? Cos this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?”

Apparently not.

* * *

It’s never been like this before. People are always, _always_ ready and willing to help, the Doctor can talk his way out of anything… until now. The Doctor and Rose, the stuff of legend. But not this time.

“Who exactly are you?”

“You haven’t even told us your name!”

“You called us ‘humans’ like you’re not one of us!”

“Your friend, Rose- she was talking with that Skye woman up at the front, all by themselves, before this started. I saw her!”

“We all did! What, were you planning this?”

“Of course not!” Rose shouts, a quiver of fear entering her voice. “That’s ridiculous!”

“But you’re enjoying it. Especially you, Doctor, you’re loving this!”

“I’m not!” He yells, trying to be heard over all the voices, including Skye’s. She’s still talking in sync with every person in the room. “Okay, I’m interested, yes, but…”

“But you knew exactly what to do! With the wiring, and everything… how did you know if you weren’t planning on it?”

“Because I’m clever!”

That was the wrong thing to say.

“So what are we then, idiots?” Biff snarls. The situation escalates, questions flying, and Rose and the Doctor back away together from the onslaught. Finally someone suggests throwing the two of them out as well as Skye, and it is then that Rose sees something that truly frightens her. When she turns to the Doctor for reassurance, she only finds abject terror in his eyes.

“Look, just... Right, sorry, yes, hold on, just...” It’s the first time she’s heard him at a loss for words, actually stammering, and she almost expects the fabric of the universe to start unraveling around them. This can’t be happening. “I know, you're scared, and so am I, look at me, I am. But we have all got to calm down and cool off and _think_.”

No one listens. Absolutely no one, they keep hammering, asking for his name, even Rose knows they won’t be fooled by ‘John Smith’, and every second they are closer to being tossed out into the deadly sunlight. Questions they can’t answer, until finally something else grabs their attention.

“Look at her. She’s stopped.”

It’s true. Skye is no longer speaking in sync with the passengers; she’s just sitting there motionless, staring at them.

“When did she…” the Doctor starts and then stops. So does Skye, still speaking right in time with him. “No she hasn’t, she’s still doing it.”

“But…” Rose starts. Skye is silent. “No, see, she’s stopped.” The other passengers chime in with phrases, and not once does Skye copy them. But when the Doctor tries to speak, the creature once again echoes him.

Rose clutches the Doctor’s hand tightly. “Doctor, she’s only speaking with you.”

“I know,” say both the Doctor and Skye. He squeezes her hand tightly, fearfully, then gathers his strength and lets go of her. “Wait here.”

He crouches down in front of Skye, or whatever is controlling her. He speaks calmly, reasonably, trying to come to a solution that involves no more deaths. She speaks exactly the same words, in exactly the same tone, totally unaffected by his suggestions. Then, suddenly, something new happens.

She speaks first.

* * *

It takes all of his willpower to let go of Rose, but this is something he has to do. The creature must have absorbed enough of their language by now, it’s time to try reasoning with it. If he can make it understand their situation, it might be willing to cooperate with them. If he can gain its cooperation, perhaps the other passengers would be willing to drop their idea of throwing anyone out. Too many ifs, and he can’t see the outcome, but this is the only thing he can think of do to.

As it turns out, it is also the wrong thing to do. As he speaks with her, he slowly feels his will slipping away. A coldness grips him, he can’t fight it, just keep talking, keep it talking, but it’s too late.

It’s not long before he is completely powerless.

* * *

As everyone takes this in, Skye, not copying now, speaks. “Oh, look at that, I’m ahead of you.”

“Oh, look at that, I’m ahead of you,” echoes the Doctor. Exactly the same words. Exactly the same tone. Her fear of a moment ago expands, bubbling over and washing through her until she feels nearly as paralyzed as the Doctor appears to be. Rose has seen a lot of things in her life, but to see him crouch there, entirely helpless, is _unthinkable_.

She kneels down next to him. “Doctor?” she whispers. “Doctor, it’s me, it’s Rose. Can you hear me? I’m gonna get you out of this, you hear?” Her voice is rising, bordering on hysteria, and she clenches her fists to keep her emotions in check.

He shows no signs of hearing her, just stares straight ahead with unseeing eyes and repeats what Skye says. “I think it’s moved. I think it’s letting me go!” they exclaim.

“What do you mean? Letting you go from what?” asks Dee Dee.

“But he's repeating now, he's the one doing it! It's him!” cries Biff.

“Mrs. Silvestre, is that you?” The Professor asks tentatively.

“Yes, yes, it’s me! I’m coming back, listen, it’s me!” Skye exclaims.

Rose stares at her. “No it’s not,” she whispers, then louder, “No, it’s not! It’s not her!” The others whip round to look at Rose, some frightened, some confused, some angry. She tries to unsuccessfully calm herself.

“Skye didn’t talk like that,” she explains. “That smooth tone of voice, so confident- Skye was nervous, an anxious woman. Remember how scared she was before, when the knocking came? If this was her, she’d be just as scared now, maybe going into shock from being possessed. It’s still controlling her, can’t you see? Only now it’s controlling the Doctor too!”

“You can’t be sure of that,” says Val testily. “It passed out of her, into him, I saw it!”

“But look,” says Skye, “I can move, I can speak, and he can’t!” Most everyone seems to take this as absolute proof that she is free, and the Professor helps her up off the floor, guiding her to the rear of the cabin. Val rushes to hug her.

“I wouldn’t touch her,” cautions Dee Dee.

“Why not? She’s clean, it passed into him!” says Biff.

“That’s_ not_ what happened!” Rose cries desperately. “Doctor, come on. Fight this!”

“It's inside his head,” murmurs Skye and the Doctor, in unison. “He can’t fight it. It killed the driver, and the mechanic. And now it wants us.”

“I said so!” Val says triumphantly.   
  
”He's waited so long,” continues Skye. “In the dark. And the cold. And the diamonds. Until you came. Bodies so hot, with blood. And pain.”

“Stop! Oh my God, someone make him stop!” cries Val, disturbed now.

“But she’s the one talking,” Rose insists. “He’s just repeating, he can’t help it… come _on_, Doctor!” she pleads.

They keep on arguing, keep on fighting about what to do. All Rose can do is sit with him, clutching his hand, and wondering what could fix this. She can’t think of anything, and it _hurts._ It hurts to see him helpless, his fate in the hands of complete strangers who are acting irrational and panicked. She doesn’t know what to do.

Skye smiles, seemingly satisfied. “That's how he does it. He makes you fight. Creeps into your head, and whispers. Listen. Just listen. That's him, inside.”

“That’s not true!” cries Rose. “Can’t you see, it’s not him, it’s _her_! She’s trying to turn you against him!”

They don’t listen to her. “We should throw him out!” rages Biff, and Val quickly agrees. The others seem unsure, but Biff moves to grab him.

_“You can’t!”_ screams Rose, and she’s terrified now, she clutches at him, his hands, his suit, his shoes, but they’re ripping him away, they’re tearing the two of them apart.

“Yes!” crows Skye. “Throw him out! Get rid of him, now!”

Biff is dragging him away, and Rose claws at the man, trying to stop him. He slaps her, hard, sending her crashing to the floor in his rage. “It’ll be you next!” she hears distantly. There’s a ringing in her ears, and for a moment she can’t focus, can’t move. They’re still struggling with the Doctor, the Professor has moved to help, then Jethro, and Rose struggles blindly to her feet.

“Cast him out!” cries Skye gleefully. “Into the sun, and the night! Do it! Do it now!”

“I won’t let you do this,” Rose vows. The band of murderers is moving towards the fire exit, and Rose knows she’ll never overpower them, not on her own. But if she can get rid of the creature…

She knows what it will mean for her. Briefly she sees their ‘forever’ slip away, but it never would have been forever, not really. She is human, her life is fleeting anyway… and she can’t imagine a future for herself in which he is dead.

Without thinking twice, she lunges towards Skye, pressing her up to the cabin door, and slaps the controls. The door opens, letting in the deadly sunlight, bearable for just six seconds. Skye is screaming in fear, the other passengers are frozen, and tears are streaming down Rose’s cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she cries, “I’m so sorry…” She doesn’t know who she is talking to: Skye, the Doctor, herself… she wishes it didn’t have to be this way. _“I love you…”_

It is bright, this planet, sparkling in the sun. It’s beautiful. So brilliant. But she’s seen a light more glorious than any of this, and she holds on to the thought of time and infinity as her own short time is ended.

* * *

It’s cold. So cold, as if he’s turned to a solid block of ice. Distantly he can hear himself speaking, but he can’t make out the words. And he’s tired. It would be so easy to give in, fall away into the blackness… but there’s another voice.

Rose.

_I’m gonna get you out of this, you hear?_

Rose. She’ll save him. She’s done it so many times before. And if there’s one thing he believes in, he believes in her.

Her touch, her hand in his is the one faintly warm spot he can feel, so when it’s ripped away it’s like falling into that blackness all over again. He tries to hold on, to fight, for her, but he can’t…

_You can’t!_

She’s being ripped away from him, torn asunder and he can’t do a thing about it. Dimly he’s aware that the other passengers are probably trying to throw him out, they were going to before and now that he can’t resist they’re making good on that threat.

_It’ll be you next!_

**No.**

Not Rose. He saved her… Rose was in danger but he was going to save her, he was… he was… he can’t remember. Can’t concentrate. Only knows that the distance between them is growing.

Closer and closer to that door, to eternity for real. Regeneration won’t save him from the sunlight, not when there will be nothing left of his body after only a split second. He’s afraid. Afraid to die, for _real_ this time _(no second chances, not even for him, he’s that sort of a man)._

_ I won’t let you do this!_

And suddenly, impossibly, his fear is doubled. Because there is both determination and despair in her voice, and he knows what she’s planning and he can’t stop her, can’t stop any of it _can’t move can’t breathe I’m drowning Rose stay please stay don’t leave me Rose please…_

Her voice echoes in his mind one last time._ I’m sorry, I’m so sorry… I love you…_

He can’t _see_ her. He’s turned away from Rose and he can’t move, can’t even turn to take a last look at her. He can tell the door is open by the bright light thrown across the cabin. His throat is on fire because the creature is screaming and he is screaming with it, completely in unison, but it is him screaming too, his true self, because she’s slipping away forever and he can’t _reach_ her.

The light is gone and the hold on his mind has vanished. But the scream remains, that never-ending wail of loss. He can move again but it doesn’t feel like his body is his own, as it scrambles away from the others to pound at the door. Hs hands flail uselessly against the metal _(as she once/never flailed at the walls between worlds)_ but he can’t feel the pain, can’t feel anything but an emptiness that will never be filled.

Eventually his body gives out, it’s been through too much today and can’t handle the strain. He sinks down to the floor, to unconsciousness.

To nothingness.


	14. The Creature

How long has he been here?

He can’t remember. It can’t have been more than a few hours, but it feels like years. Distantly he notes that his hands are itchy and uncomfortable, someone must have applied a dermal regenerator to them. The dull ache in his wrist suggests a recent breakage, but that has also been dealt with. His body has been repaired. As for his soul… he doubts he will ever feel truly whole again.

He longs to be far away from here. He wants to run, but he can’t. The TARDIS is still planetside, while he and the other passengers were brought here to the space station for emergency care. The resort managers have told him they will be bringing his ship up to the station as soon as possible, but for now he has nowhere to go. To top it off, they have left him in a disused lounge room on the station, with a viewing window facing the deadly planet itself. It looks like an airport waiting room. He hates airports.

_Maybe,_ he thinks, _this is Hell._

* * *

An indefinite amount of time later, an aide comes bringing some unexpected news.

“Dr. Smith, your daughter is here to see you.”

It’s her. He knew it would be her. The Anomaly. She turns to the window first, as if she can’t bear to meet his gaze. Her face is grave as it studies the planet below. When she finally looks at him, that expression changes to one of infinite sadness. He can see Time spinning in her eyes now. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

Before she can say anything, he has one question. “Daughter?”

She turns away again, refusing to meet his eye as she says, “Well, they wouldn’t let me disturb you unless I was next of kin. Psychic paper, easy.” Her hand strays to play with her ponytail and he knows there is something she’s not telling him, but he’ll let it pass. There are more important things at stake now.

“You knew,” He states. Not a question.

“Yes. I knew.” The girl is calm, almost apathetic in manner, and it’s making him furious.

“Then you knew how much she meant to me,” he bursts out. “The difference she made in the universe… she didn’t deserve to die, not in the Void, not on Midnight… she wasn’t involved in this! She didn’t deserve this death!”

The girl remains unruffled, despite his outburst. Only her eyes betray the pain she is feeling.

“She was always going to die. I’m sorry, Doctor, but she was _wrong_. The universe was trying to compensate for the alternate timeline… the timeline _you_ created, willingly or not.”

“But you knew. You could have warned me. You could have saved her!”

An edge of pain finally creeps into the girl’s voice. “I _tried! _You don’t know how many times I tried. With Dr. Lazarus, the Torajjian Sun… I tried to alter the timeline, but all it meant was that I delayed her death a little bit more. I couldn’t continue doing that. This was the last chance!”

“Last chance for what?”

“To convince you! Only you can reset the timeline, Doctor, and you’ve _got_ to. There’s something coming, I don’t know what, but a little ways into the future and all timelines stop. Blackout. And as things stand we don’t have a chance of stopping it!”

“And how exactly would things stand better if Rose was lost at Canary Wharf?” he rages.

“Donna Noble.” Startled, he realizes he recognizes the name. That day in the cemetery, the Anomaly was mourning her friend’s death. He realizes she is still speaking. “You would have met her, again and again, and somehow her presence allows everything to fall into place. I don’t know how, or why, but I know it’s true. And in this reality, she’s dead.”

Forgetting that this girl also has a reason to grieve, he responds with equal coldness. “Humans die every day. Timelines change all the time when events are in flux, and sometimes people die that didn’t before. Other times those who died, live. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong, it’s just the way things are.”

“Except for Rose, is that what you’re saying?” accuses the Anomaly. “She’s the only human that can’t die… and as long as you have her, the universe can go to hell? I’m sorry, it doesn’t work like that!”

“No, obviously it doesn’t. Because in case you hadn’t noticed, she _is_ dead.”

“But would you rather it did work that way?” she asks darkly. “Because if you do, I’m done with you. It ends here.”

The finality of her tone shocks him in silence. Would he destroy the universe, if it meant having Rose back with him, alive? Is that the sort of man he is now? For a split second, remembering the despair and anguish of her death and experiencing it anew, he thinks there can only be one answer. _Yes. For her, I would do it._

But before he can decide on that, an old memory surfaces. Another chance, to make things right again…_ I could save everyone… I could stop the War… _

_No. The universe has to move forward. Pain, and loss, they define us as much as happiness or love. Whether it’s a world, or a relationship, everything has its time, and everything ends._

Sarah Jane’s words had stopped him then. But were they enough to stop him now?

Not quite. Yet still time rushes backwards, years back to his Ninth self. He hadn’t known Rose very well at the time, but even then she was beginning to mean the world to him. She had asked him why he was hesitating. He had told her, _I could save the world, but lose you._

Her answer had been short and to the point. _Do it._

She wouldn’t have wanted this. No matter how precious she was to him, he couldn’t let the universe die so that she could live.

“No,” he admits, sighing heavily. “No.”

He can see the relief in the Anomaly’s face as she nods approvingly. “Good.” She turns abruptly and begins walking towards the door, calling over her shoulder, “Come with me.”

He doesn’t want to. Despite the fact that what she’s said has made sense, he still feels resentful towards her for what has happened. Part of him would like nothing more than to lie down for a week and grieve for Rose, and yet he doesn’t want to stay still. It’s all happening far too fast, and nothing seems to make sense anymore. And yet…

What the Anomaly has offered him is distraction. A mission, a purpose beyond his current circumstances. At the very least, she may have some answers. And she wants him to save the world. Because this is who he is, what he does, with or without _her._ And it’s what she would have wanted.

Grudgingly he calls out, “Where are we going?”

“To my ship,” she answers with a small grin.

He frowns and glances back at the waiting area. “But what about the TARDIS?”

“You won’t need her where you’re going.”

* * *

The Anomaly’s ship is small but comfy. It probably wouldn’t accommodate more than three or four people, but as she appears to be alone that probably isn’t a problem. The interior is done up in warm colors like dark gold and burgundy, and gives the appearance of being lavish, but capable. He has no idea what the outside looks like, since they had entered from the airlock where the ship was docked with the station. However, he can tell that the Anomaly is an excellent pilot as she maneuvers smoothly out of the space port and off into the dark.

When they have reached a cruising speed, the girl flips on the autopilot and swivels her seat to face him. “Right. Let’s begin.”

“First things first,” he says, holding up a hand. He feels the need to regain some amount of control over the situation. “If we’re going to be working together, isn’t there something else I could call you besides ‘Anomaly’? It sounds so… vague.”

“What, and ‘Doctor’ isn’t?” she challenges with a smile. “Actually, Anomaly is _part_ of my name, but not the whole thing. Technically, my full name is ‘Generated Anomaly,’ but most people just call me Jenny. I couldn’t tell you before, but… doesn’t matter now.”

“Jenny,” he repeats, wondering what sort of parent names their child Generated Anomaly. It’s not exactly a Gallifreyan name, not that it matters anymore. Still… “Lovely name.”

She blushes slightly. “Thanks. But we have more important things to discuss.”

“Right,” he agrees, breathing out heavily. “We have to put things back the way they were.” He understands what that means, and he hates the implications, but Jenny is right. This timeline ended only in destruction, and he had already lost the only thing that would have kept him on it. Even… he forces himself past the thought… even if it meant she had to die in the Void, if it meant the universe would be saved, then he had to do it. Rose had already proved she was willing to die for what she believed in. Hopefully, wherever she was, she would understand what he was about to do.

“So,” he forces himself to go on, “How did things change in the first place? I used the TARDIS to go back on my own timeline, then wiped my memory?”

But Jenny shakes her head. “No. The TARDIS wasn’t involved. As far as I have discovered, it was this… creature, that has the power to fold timelines back on themselves. It’s like a parasite, that lets it’s host remake a choice from their past. It was one of many controlled by the Trickster.”

She says the name like it is significant, but it’s unfamiliar to him. “The Trickster?”

“A being you encountered in the original timeline,” she explains. “From what I can tell, you thwarted his plans with the help of Martha Jones. This was probably his attempt at retaliation- changing your timeline so that you never met him, and never defeated him.” She smiles thinly. “I don’t think he realized the resulting timeline would lead to total destruction, including his own.”

He frowns. “Wait- who’s Martha Jones?”

“A brilliant and fantastic woman,” Jenny responds immediately. “Also a doctor. I believe you met her in this timeline as well, but with Rose there it never crossed your mind to invite her to travel with you.” She shakes her head sadly. “Listen, though, it would take too long for me to explain everything you don’t remember. I think it’s best if I just show you.”

“Show me what?”

“The creature that’s responsible for this mess.”

She pulls out a device and fiddles with it. “Astrid, could you adjust the lighting to Califrauxian-beta wavelength, mark 7?”

Hold on, is there someone else on board? “And… who is Astrid, again?” He asks, thoroughly confused.

Jenny shifts her eyes guiltily to the console. “She’s… oh, never mind. This is gonna take more time off our schedule, but I know she’s been dying to say hi. All right, come on out.”

A young woman wearing an indigo jumpsuit shimmers into existence in the cabin. Her honey-colored hair falls to her shoulders in waves, and the look she gives him is one of recognition. Perfect, someone else who knows him who he hasn’t met. “Sorry, Jen, I know you wanted this to go quickly, but I’ll only be a minute. It’s been ages since I’ve seen him, and we don’t know how things will turn out after this is all over.”

“Do I know you?” he asks her, with the sinking feeling that he probably does but doesn’t remember.

She turns her gaze on him fondly. “Not in this lifetime, but yes, we knew each other.”

“I hope you’ll forgive me for not recognizing you… that seems to be happening to me an awful lot these days. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you. Again.” He stands up and extends a hand to her.

She shakes her head slightly. “Sorry, Doctor. This is just an image. No touch.”

“Astrid’s a hologram,” Jenny explains. “Her consciousness is bonded to the ship, and to me, conveniently. Usually I’m the only one who can see her, but of course we’re making an exception for you.”

He takes a closer look at the young woman. She appears vibrant and alive, but reaching out with his other senses tells him she is nothing more than an amalgamation of electrical and psychic signals. And yet… this is no artificial intelligence. There is a mind there, real consciousness, although it is not located in the image in front of him but within the ship itself. The ship is alive, he realizes, partially organic like the TARDIS, and Astrid has become it’s soul. With that realization comes another, darker epiphany. She cannot always have been like this. Once upon a time, this woman was a living, breathing person.

Opening his eyes, he gazes steadily at the image once more. “I’m sorry,” he tells her, though what he is apologizing for, he cannot say.

“Don’t be,” she says, smiling softly. “If things didn’t happen the way they did, I might never have traveled as long and as far as I have. I might never have met Jen. You may not believe me, Doctor, but… I’m content.”

He frowns, still not satisfied. “If I may, how did this happen?”

Impatiently, Jenny brushes that aside. “Its kind of a long story, which we really don’t have time for now. Astrid, can you please get the lights?”

The hologram gives her a wry salute. “Yes, ma’am.”

Jenny rolls her eyes and turns to the Doctor. “Right, the wavelength will make it easier to see the creature, but you’ll still need to break the psychic barrier it’s used to keep you from sensing it. That’s why I’m here. Just… relax.” She takes his hands in hers and closes her eyes. He wonders if he should do the same but realizes that would make it for difficult to for him to see… whatever it is she wants him to see. When they are settled, Jenny calls out, “Hit it!”

The lights in the room flash and brighten in intensity. Suddenly everything seems sharper, more defined, like he can see it with intense clarity. At the same time, he can feel another mind within his, unlocking doors he hadn’t realized were there, showing him a different perspective. The feeling he has had of something being behind him is strengthened, until curiosity forces him to turn round. Finally, he confirms that there is a reason people have been staring behind him lately. His fifth self had tried to warn him, but he hadn’t listened.

_There is something on his back._

He can see the creature now. Visible, it looks like an enormous beetle, ugly and horrifying by human standards. But that’s not what troubles him. Because he can _see_ now, see the strands of the timeline that had evaded him before. He can see the tapestry of time, intricately woven, and he can see where the creature intersects it. A snarl of space-time, warped and twisted and knotted beyond recognition, the threads weakening and fraying until eventually there is nothing left of them. _Utter_ destruction.

He turns away and closes his mind, unable to bear the emptiness. After a time, he realizes that the lights have dimmed, and Jenny’s hand is on his shoulder. “Doctor?”

“I didn’t know,” he whispers, shaking his head. “I didn’t know that, to keep her with me… I wanted her safe. I wanted her to live. I thought preserving the changed timeline might be worth it, if it saved her life…”

Jenny grips him tighter and looks uncomfortable. “Doctor, there is something you should know. I tried to tell you earlier, but you didn’t let me explain.”

He turns to face her, wondering what else she could possibly have to reveal to him. “What?”

“In the original timeline, Rose Tyler is not dead.”


	15. Taking the Left

For a moment, he can’t respond. This news doesn’t make sense, it goes against everything he remembers, everything he’s told himself, and it takes awhile for him to absorb it.

Jenny’s voice breaks into his confusion. “Doctor?”

“She had to be,” he states firmly. “She couldn’t have… she was falling. I remember now. She was gripping the lever but the pull was too strong… she let go and she was falling… it was the _Void,_ Jenny. There’s a reason it’s called the Deathspace. Nothing can survive there.”

“All the same, she did survive.”

“How, then?” he demands. “Tell me how.”

“I can’t,” Jenny tells him, shaking her head. “I wasn’t there, I couldn’t risk interfering with that event, even to watch. So I don’t know what happened. But I do know that she ended up alive and well on a parallel world.”

“No,” he insists. “I sent her away to that world, but she came back. She came back and she fell…”

“Then she survived the fall.” Coming from Jenny, it sounds so simple. And yet…

He examines her, doubtful. “How do you know all this?”

“I received a… message,” she explains. “I was going to show you my memory, back on the TARDIS, but you didn’t trust me.” She pauses to look at him closely. “Will you trust me now?”

He looks at this girl, so young, yet determined. This girl who knows nearly everything about him but is secretive about herself, who may be the only other one of his kind left in the universe. The girl who saved Rose many times over only to let her die in front of him, then turns around and gives him hope again. And he thinks he has no choice but to trust her.

“All right,” he says guardedly. “I’ll trust you.”

She raises her hands to his temples and suddenly she is in his mind. But instead of searching through his memories, she opens up one of her own. It is set almost a year in the past, from her perspective, a memory from a timeline that no longer exists.

* * *

Jenny is slouched in the pilot’s seat, bored as she always is after setting the coordinates but before they’ve arrived in a new time and place. Her ship is less efficient than a TARDIS, only able to travel in one dimension (space or time) at once, and the journey can take days or even weeks, depending on how far away they are. Jenny doesn’t like sitting still, a trait she inherited from her dad. She’s thinking about possible upgrades she could give the ship to make it go faster, when Astrid shimmers into place beside her, looking preoccupied.

“Jenny, I’m picking up some kind of weird signal. It’s like a video transmission, except we’re too far from planets that have the technology to send something like this… it doesn’t make sense.”

Jenny frowns. “Where is it coming from, then?”

“That’s the strange thing. I can’t find a point of origin. If I had to, I’d say it was coming from the ship itself… but if that were the case, I would know exactly what it was and why it was being sent. Which I don’t.” Astrid looks uneasy at the thought of not knowing why the ship was doing something, which is understandable considering that the ship’s semi-organic computer is where she herself resides.

Not comfortable with the idea of her friend malfunctioning, Jenny wonders if viewing the transmission will answer their questions about it’s existence. “Can you put it onscreen?”

“Doing it now.”

The vidscreen switches on. At first it displays only static, but eventually that clears up and settles into a definite image. There’s a girl on the screen, a blonde girl in a grey sweatshirt. At first she appears to be looking off screen, at someone out of the camera’s view.

“Is it on?” She calls out. The reply is unintelligible, but it must have been affirmative because she continues. “Okay, tell me if we get a reply.” She then turns to face the camera and begins calling out a name, over and over. “Doctor! Are you there? Doctor? Doctor, if you can see this please respond. You should be able to get a message through. Doctor!”

Jenny sits up straight in her chair and stares. “She knows him,” she whispers, a hopeful feeling rising up inside her. “She knows the Doctor.” Turning to Astrid expectantly she asks, “Can we send a reply?”

But Astrid shakes her head, frowning. “No. I can’t even tell where the signal is coming from, much less reply to it. And, judging by the data I have… this isn’t a live link. It’s a prerecorded message. They must not have gotten a reply, but they decided to transmit the message anyway.”

Jenny slides back down into her chair, discouraged. “Well, that’s helpful,” she mutters.

“Sorry.”

The girl on the screen keeps calling out the Doctor’s name for several minutes, but it becomes apparent that no one is going to answer her. Finally she glances offscreen for more instructions, looking discouraged. After a moment she looks back at the camera again, decidedly less excited than she had been at the beginning of the video, and begins relaying information.

“Right. We’re not getting a response, but we’re just going to send this message through anyway. We’re programming the signal to respond to the Doctor, or someone who’s met him and might know how to contact him. Doctor, if you’re watching this then obviously you know who I am, but in case it’s someone else I’m gonna have to fill you in.

“My name’s Rose Tyler. I used to travel with the Doctor, awhile back… it’s been a few years. We got separated and I ended up on this… parallel world. It’s a dimension where things went slightly different from your world, a little offshoot of the timeline. And this universe runs a bit ahead of yours in time, which is important. Here’s what you need to know:

“The stars are going out. All of them, right across the galaxy, fading into darkness. And when that started happening, all the cracks between dimensions started opening up again. We built this device that can read data from these other dimensions, stuff that flows through the cracks, and we found out that it’s not just this universe that’s in danger. It’s all of them. All of the universes, every single timeline, they’re starting to crumble. Reality itself is being erased.

“It took awhile, but we were able to trace the start of this disaster back to your universe. My original universe. Something in your universe is going to set off a chain reaction that will destroy all of reality. Fortunately, like I said, this world runs a bit ahead of yours. So even though we’re seeing the effects now, the destruction isn’t for certain. There’s still time to stop the Darkness. That’s why we need the Doctor.

“If you can contact the Doctor, you’ve got to warn him about this danger. He’s the only one I can think of who has a chance of stopping a disaster on this scale, but to do that he needs to know what’s coming. ‘Cause it’s more than the world, more than the universe, it’s every single universe in danger.” She smiles sadly. “Just like old times, huh?”

The girl on the screen pauses a moment, like she’s not sure if she should say anything else. Finally she says, “And, um, if you see the Doctor, tell him Rose said hi. And tell him I…” She swallows hard and looks away from the camera. “Tell him I miss him. That’s all.” She rises from her seat, blinking as she walks offscreen. “End transmission.”

As the video fades away into static again, Jenny tries to absorb what she’s just seen. From behind her, Astrid speaks up. “I know finding the Doctor is already pretty high on our list of priorities, but don’t you think we should move our efforts up a notch?”

Trying to clear her mind, Jenny shakes her head and focuses on the here and now. “Right. Definitely. Let me see what I can do to make this baby go faster.”

* * *

The Doctor feels Jenny remove her hands and withdraw from his mind. His thoughts are unsteady, but he fixes an image in his mind: Rose, alive, and fighting to save the universe. He knows now he will work towards making that vision a reality, whatever the cost.

He realizes Jenny has started speaking again. “A few weeks after we got that message, Astrid and I were caught in a time storm. When it was over, the timeline had been drastically altered, but our own personal timelines somehow stayed the same. We still don’t know how that happened.” She shrugs. “I’ve been trying to fix things ever since.”

“No you haven’t.” Upon her confused look, he clarifies. “When we ran into you those other times, you were trying to preserve the alternate timeline. You were saving Rose’s life, even if it meant continuing on this path. Why?”

She turns away from him and stares out the window. “I thought… I thought you must have had a reason to want to change time so badly. And when I saw you with Rose, I thought you looked… happy. Content. In a way you hadn’t been when I first met you. And I remembered the look in her eyes at the end of the video… So I thought I would try and help. I thought I could save Donna’s life on my own, kick the timeline back into place that way, but I couldn’t even get near her. All my gear malfunctioned whenever I tried, and Rose kept falling into mortal danger. Eventually it became clear that even though this was the ending you had wanted to badly, it wasn’t what was right for the universe.”

“And if we fix things, the universe will be safe,” He murmurs. “Rose will be safe. But how do I know? How did she survive in the first place? What if I change things back and she dies anyway?”

Jenny shrugs again. “I don’t have all the answers Doctor,” she tells him sadly. “You’ll just have to take it on faith.”

Faith. Right. It’s not something he’s ever been very big on. Except, didn’t he once say that if there was one thing he believed, it was her? Maybe it’s time to try that again. After all, it worked before. And the universe hangs in the balance. It’s not like he has any other choice.

“All right,” he agrees, offering Jenny a wan smile. “How do we do this?”

She grins at him in return. “Simple. It took me awhile to figure out. Taking a time machine and going back to warn yourself would cause all sorts of complications, including slightly altering the original timeline, but what we want to do is put things back exactly the way they were. So we’re going to use the creature to let you make the choice again.”

He wasn’t quite sure that he was following her. “What?”

She continues explaining, patiently. “The timeline was changed the first time around by going back on your personal timeline, in your mind, and remaking a choice from the past. The creature allows you to travel that way. We’re going to rewrite time the same way, and turn the creature against its master. Like I said, simple.”

It was unlike any type of time travel he had previously encountered, but he supposed it did make sense. A twisted sort of sense. “Right.”

Off to the side, Astrid speaks up once more. “Then I guess this is goodbye, Doctor. I’m going to be monitoring you as you attempt to change the timeline, but I’m going to need the energy used to generate this hologram to help me to that.” Smiling sadly, she walks towards him and places one of her insubstantial hands over his. “Good luck. I hope to see you again, when this is all over.” With that, she shimmers out of existence.

Blinking slightly at the disappearance of the hologram, he turns back to Jenny. “So what exactly is it that you need me to do?”

“Just sit here, give me your hands, close your eyes, and concentrate. I’ll guide you through the rest.”

He complies, holding his hands out to her. But before he closes his eyes, he notices the screen behind her, with two words blinking in the corner. “Jenny,” he asks her slowly, “Those words in the corner of the screen. Where did they come from?”

Somewhat confused, Jenny twists her head around to see what he is looking at. “Oh, that? It’s just a status indicator. That’s the name of my ship.”

“The name of your…” he repeats, understanding dawning on him. “Oh. _Oh!_ Jenny, I think I know who’s been protecting your timeline all this time.”

She leans forward eagerly. “Who?”

“No time to explain. Isn’t that what you always said?” he throws back at her, grinning. “But really, it would take too long and I’ve got to get back. Gives you an incentive to find me again, though, doesn’t it? I’ll tell you the whole story when we meet again.”

Jenny rolls her eyes. “Getting a bit ahead of yourself, aren’t you?”

“Right. Do your thing,” he tells her, holding out his hands once more, and closing his eyes.

“For this to work, you’ve got to calm down,” she instructs. “Focus. Take deep breaths.”

He focuses on his breathing, and it is easier this time. He knows she is going to come back to him somehow, and right now that is enough.

“I want you to go back to that day, in your mind. The day in the ghost shift room. Can you see it?” As she speaks, he can feel her mentally probing him, bringing up images of that event and passing them through the creature that is inexplicably twined with him.

He concentrates. Rose came back to him after he sent her away. He remembers giving her instructions, going over to the clamps, and then… _flash._ It’s as if the memory has become reality, he is actually standing there, across from the living, breathing girl he thought he had lost forever.

“That’s more like it, bit of a smile!” she laughs. So familiar. “The old team!”

“Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake!” he jokes, just as he did before. It has to be exactly the same.

“Which one’s Shiver?”

“Oh, I’m Shake.”

As he begins to pass her a clamp, he can hear another voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Rose doesn’t seem to be able to hear it. “You could have gone to one side, or the other. You chose the right. But what if you took the left?”

_The eternal question, what if..._

“Make the choice again, Doctor, and take the lever on the left.”

_Yes,_ he thinks, and begins moving to his left. Rose presses her clamp up against the right side of the room. “Press the red button,” he instructs her. “When it starts, just hold on tight. It shouldn’t be too bad for us, but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Voidstuff. You ready?”

“So are they,” she points out, nodding towards the window. Four Daleks are flying in formation towards them.

“Let’s do it!” He exclaims. Exactly as before. _Please let this work…_

They press the levers into an upward position and then hurry to grab on to the clamps. As the wind rushes by he thinks he can hear a distant voice telling him, _“Goodbye,” _but that future is quickly fading until it is no more than a dream.

The suction from the Void continues to increase, dragging in more and more Cybermen and Daleks, until finally one of them strikes against the lever on Rose’s side. Both of them glance in shock at the offending lever, as each realizes what has to happen here. He reaches out toward her but there’s nothing he can do.

_ How can something that feels so wrong be the right thing to do?_

She reaches towards the lever, getting desperate, until she finally releases her hold on the clamp to come round and push on the lever. “Gotta… get it… upright…” she calls to him, breathing heavily with the effort.

“Online and locked,” remarks the computer.

She holds on for as long as she can, but they both know she won’t be able to hold out very long. When she finally loses her grip he begins screaming her name, he can’t help it, because she’s flying into the Void just like in his nightmares and suddenly he is sure that this is the second time today that she will die, except this time he will be watching. She’s still falling…

_I believe in her._

From out of nowhere, Pete materializes and snatches her back to the other world.

_She’s safe. _

And as the Void closes he can feel himself breathing a sigh of relief, even as his emotions threaten to overwhelm him. No longer is she dead, incinerated by the eternal sun of Midnight. They are separated, but at least she is alive. At least…

He finds himself walking up to that wall again, if only to make sure. Pressing himself against it, he can feel her there on the other side, he can feel her grief and despair but she is alive and that is all that matters.

Turning away from the wall, he focuses on the future. He’s lived through this heartache once, and that is enough for one lifetime. As his consciousness rushes towards the future, people and events flash by like lightning.

_Donna, the brilliant bride-never-to-be…_

_The wonderful Martha Jones and Judoon upon the moon…_

_Shakespeare and Daleks and sunlight and blood…._

_The Master and the year-that-never-was…_

_Astrid, the girl who became stardust… I’m so sorry…_

_Donna again… how could I forget you? …_

_Volcanoes and singing and poison and…_

_ Jenny… but she’s not dead, she is so alive. She’s finally discovered what Time Lords are for…_

_Wasps and shadows and midnight and…_

_A market on Shan Shen._

Someone’s hands in his, gripping him like iron, but he finally finds the strength to break free. _Something_ on his back releases him as he stands tall, no longer powerless. A woman cowers before him.

“You were so strong,” she whimpers. “What _are_ you?”

Looming over her, fire in his eyes, he answers her question. “Time Lord.”

He can see the fear and shock in her eyes as the enormity of what she has done begins to sink in. “My lord,” she babbles, “I am so sorry, I did not know what I was doing, it was only as my master commanded and…”

“You picked the wrong person’s timeline to meddle in,” he snarls. “Get out.”

“Please forgive me my lord…”

He can’t stand to hear her excuses anymore, and he is honestly afraid of what might happen if she stays in front of him any longer. With no other outlet for his fury, he lashes out and knocks over one of the lanterns she has set in the tent for moodlighting. It crashes to the floor, and flames begin to lick their way up the side of the tent.

_ “Out!”_

She is quick to comply.

As he stalks out of the tent, it collapses behind him and is devoured by the fire. He does not look back.

It is time to fight the Darkness.

* * *

Jenny has to fight a wave of dizziness as she opens her eyes. Riding out a timestorm of that magnitude can wreak havoc on a young Time Lady’s brain. Good thing she’s the resilient type.

At first glance everything seems to be normal. Her father is no longer here, which she supposes must be a good sign, even though she wishes for more time with him. Well, more time in which he knows who she really is. But that will have to wait for another day.

“Astrid?” she calls out. “Everything okay?”

Her friend’s hologram flickers into view, looking as dizzy as she feels. “We seem to be fine.”

“What about the timelines?” Jenny asks, holding her breath.

The image flickers as Astrid searches the ship’s data on timelines. Finally she solidifies, and grins. “Back to normal.”

Jenny can’t help but let out a whoop of delight as she jumps up and begins to dance around the cabin. “We did it!” She dashes over to the consol and starts inputting directions. “From what I saw in the alternate timeline, Dad likes to hang out a lot around a planet called Earth, during the twenty-first century. Think we stand a chance of running into him there?”

Astrid shrugs. “Come to think of it, the _Titanic_ was in orbit around that planet when I first met him…”

Jenny looks at her, surprised and slightly annoyed. “You never mentioned the name of the planet!”

“You never asked!”

The bantering between the girls continues as the engines fire up, and the good ship _Bad Wolf_ sets a course for planet Earth.


	16. Just as it Should Be

He finally finds Donna, not at the stall with the handbags, but a different stall that sells cookware, plates and cups and things. Without stopping or saying anything, he engulfs her in an enormous hug.

_Oh, Donna. I’m so sorry. _Remembering his actions in the alternate timeline, he squeezes her tighter. He had been so callous about her death in that world, not quite caring that she was gone as long as Rose was still with him. Granted, he hadn’t known Donna personally in that timeline, but that was no excuse for disregarding her- or anyone’s- life. No matter how he felt about Rose, he could _not_ place her safety above everyone else’s…something, he realizes, he was only able to learn because of their separation.

_Jenny was right_, he thinks guiltily. _There were reasons things happened the way they did. _That thought leads to another, happier one. He remembers with renewed joy that Jenny is not dead, as he had thought, but very much alive- and much more grown up since when they parted. And Astrid…

“Oi, watch it, Spaceman!” Donna calls out, breaking into his thoughts. “You want to crush my purchase?” He releases her and she peers worriedly into her bag, ensuring that her souvenir is still intact. Satisfied, she glances up at him. “Now, what was that for? You were only gone ten minutes!”

He shrugs, trying to look innocent. “Well… it felt like a lot longer.”

But she knows him too well, and that phrase only causes her to narrow her eyes and stare at him intently. “You didn’t go off in the TARDIS, did you? Leaving me stranded on an alien planet, even if it only felt like ten minutes… Tell me you didn’t do that!” she demands, getting more and more worked up as she goes on.

He hastily interrupts her. “No! No, I wouldn’t do that.” He doesn’t tell her what did happen though. Just as she is about to ask, a siren wails and they turn to see the fire brigade rushing towards a stall a few blocks over. Smoke is pouring out of the fortune teller’s tent. Donna glances back and forth between him and the fire, and he sees her eyes widen as she makes the connection.

“You didn’t.”

“Well…”

“I can’t even leave you alone for ten minutes!” she rages, shaking her bag wildly. “Ten minutes, and you’ve already started a fire or gotten into some other such trouble. Honestly…”

The Doctor has stopped listening to her though. His attention has been caught by something much brighter and wilder than Donna. He walks past her to place his hand against a poster, tracing the words wonderingly. “Donna…” he calls out tentatively. “How long have these been here?”

She turns around to stare at him. “Since we got here, dumbo. They’ve been up the whole time. It’s for the Festival of Bad Wolf.” It’s his turn to stare at her, bewildered. Surely he would have noticed those two words before…

Donna reaches into her bag, pulls out an object, and holds it out as proof. “Look, I even got a commemorative mug. The words light up when it’s filled with something hot, or something like that.”

He holds the mug up to the light, turning it over in his hands. The words _Bad Wolf _are emblazoned clearly on the front. “Did you hear what the festival celebrates?”

“Sure, the salesman told me. It’s for some local deity- Bad Wolf, Goddess of Time. Why?”

He tosses the mug back to her and begins striding in the direction of the TARDIS. “I knew her.”

“You knew a goddess?” Donna pants disbelievingly as she tries to catch up with him.

He stops suddenly and turns to face her. “Donna, you are aware that you yourself are considered a goddess on no less than four of the planets we’ve visited, right? That Ginger Goddess business with the Jaftee… And on Excillion, you gained that status for nothing more than introducing the natives to the concept of wearing hats.”

“Well, I could hardly let them continue to walk around with painfully sunburned heads, could I?” she retorts. “But… Goddess of Time… that sounds a lot more important than Goddess of Hats. Who was she?”

He turns around and begins walking again. “Rose.”

“_Rose?_ The ‘Her name was Rose’, Rose? ‘Still lost’ Rose? So you visited Shan Shen with her too?”

“She’s never been here.” He sighs, trying to think of how to explain it. “At one time, she _did_ have the powers of a goddess… she took the Time Vortex into herself in order to save me. It nearly killed her. But while she had that power, she called herself Bad Wolf, and she scattered those two words throughout time and space, using them as a message to tell herself she could get back to me.”

“But…” Donna tries to understand. “If the words were a message, why are they showing up now?”

“It must be the opposite this time,” he says, trying to convince himself as much as Donna. “She’s telling me I can get back to her.”

By this point they have reached the TARDIS. Both travelers stop short, taking in the changes to the old police box. Every single word on the TARDIS has become the words Bad Wolf.

“Wow,” Donna whispers. “Your girl really knows how to get a message through, doesn’t she.”

Not wasting any more time, the Doctor rushes up to the door, pulls it open, and makes his way into the console room. Donna follows close behind. The room is flooded with an eerie red light, and from somewhere in the depths of the ship a bell rings out ominously.

“What’s that noise?” Donna demands fearfully.

“The Cloister Bell. There’s something seriously wrong with the universe,” he informs her, dashing around the console to send the ship into flight. Though there was no indication of what would cause the alarm to go off, he was fairly sure it had something to do with that Darkness Rose had mentioned in her message. He had to find her as soon as possible. “We’ve got to get back to Earth… now!”

* * *

Of course, it wasn’t nearly that simple in the end. They’d gone to Earth in the hopes of finding Rose, who seemed to be the only one with any clue about what the Darkness was and how to stop it. Except the Earth had suddenly and impossibly been moved out from under them, and it took ages and a very expensive phone call in order to track it down again. When they arrived, they found a time-travelers web-chat waiting for them, but no Rose. He began to fear that perhaps he was wrong, that the cracks in reality had been wide enough to send only a message and nothing more.

When the fifth connection turned out not to be the long lost blonde girl but an old enemy reborn, the Doctor felt his hearts sink lower than before. Perhaps he was not meant to find her again after all. But Donna won’t let him give up. “Maybe she just couldn’t get to a computer in time, or something. Doesn’t mean she’s not here… can’t you do a scan or something, see if she’s somewhere on the planet?”

The Doctor looks up from the console, hope rising in him again. “I can try. Her psychic signal should still be in the databanks… and after that incident with the Time Vortex, the TARDIS knows Rose like she knows herself. Donna, that’s brilliant!”

He begins dashing around the console, flipping levers and pressing buttons. Finally he stops in front of the viewscreen, peering at it anxiously. “Come on, come on…” Finally a blip shows up on the screen. “Gotcha!” He crows, twisting several knobs. “Locking in on her signal… we should be arriving… now!”

As soon as the Time Rotor stops, he rushes to the door and flings it open, Donna following close behind. As she steps out into their destination, Donna raises her eyebrows in surprise. “I think your tracking device must be on the blink, Spaceman. ‘Cause as it happens, this isn’t Rose- it’s my bedroom.” Sure enough, there are dressers and a bed here, but no Rose. He turns to Donna, disappointment flooding his features, when voices come wafting up from the living room downstairs.

“You could stay here, with us… you’ve got that weapon, we’d be safe, for awhile.”

“That’s my mum!” whispers Donna eagerly, heading for the stairs. But it’s the second voice that makes the Doctor stand up and take notice.

“Mrs. Noble, I’m sorry, I wish I could stay with you, really, but I’m needed elsewhere. I don’t know what that… thing… on the screen was, but I do know about Daleks, and I know they’ve gotta be stopped. We need the Doctor.”

From the top of the stairs, Donna whirls around to face the Doctor. “Is that…”

“It’s her,” he whispers, unbelievingly. To hear her voice again, not in some flashback or altered timeline but for real… it’s enough to shock him into a moment’s stillness. Because she’s alive, and so very near, and yet he can’t quite bring himself to believe it. He can’t stand the thought of going downstairs and finding out that none of it was true, so instead he simply refuses to move.

Donna isn’t about to stand for any more nonsense. “Well, don’t just stand there,” she orders, placing her hands on her hips. “Get down there and sweep her off her feet!”

In the living room, Rose is preparing to depart from the Noble household. “Right,” she says decisively. “I’m gonna find him.”

From the stairway, Donna calls out casually, “You’re a bit late for that. Think he found you first.”

The blonde girl turns around slowly, desperately afraid that she’s going to be disappointed. But that doesn’t happen.

“Doctor?” she whispers, disbelievingly. She’s been searching for him for ages, almost given up hope of contacting him, and here he is, showing up out of nowhere when she least expected it. That is _so_ him.

“Rose…”

When he says her name, she feels something snap inside, dissolving her disbelief and despair. She finds herself overwhelmed with a thousand intense emotions that eradicate conscious thought, leaving her with a vocabulary of a single word. _“Doctor!”_

After that, the tiny living room is filled with awkward shuffling as the Doctor impatiently tries to squeeze past Donna while Rose scrambles over the coffee table. It isn’t quite a long dramatic run into each others arms, a feat that would be difficult to achieve in such a small space, but the Doctor still manages to do as Donna requested and ‘sweep her off her feet.’

“S’just like in the movies, that is,” Wilf remarks, wiping a tear from his eyes. Sylvia elbows him to be quiet as she tries to rearrange the magazines their visitor so rudely knocked to the ground.

The Doctor does not want to relinquish his hold on Rose, not ever, but eventually it occurs to him that it’s difficult to look at her when they are pressed so tightly together. Gently he draws back a bit, enough to see her face. Her eyes reflect the delight he is feeling, and there is no other place in the universe that he would rather be.

“You found me,” Rose whispers, snuggling closer to him again.

“You did quite a bit of the work yourself,” he corrects her. “Traveling through dimensions?”

She shrugs, looking a bit embarrassed. “I had some help.”

“I’ll bet.” He pauses for a moment, unsure how to continue. “Listen, Rose… I…”

Bother. He’s so gabby in this incarnation, and yet when it comes to important things, he never seems to be able to get the words out. _Nothing_ comes to mind; no words can describe how much he’s missed her and what he’s gone through to get her back and the elation he feels right now with her…

So instead, he uses his mouth in another way.

She does not seem to mind.

Meanwhile, the already cramped space of the Noble’s living room is made even tighter by the arrival of yet another visitor. Quickly assessing the situation, he comes to the conclusion that the woman the Doctor is currently snogging the face off of is indeed the long lost Rose Tyler. As this is not an immediate threat but instead a rather promising situation, he sets down his gun and inquires, “Is there room in there for one more?”

The reunion-kiss is broken off by Rose’s squeal of “Jack!” and the Doctor looks on, slightly disappointed but understanding as the two old friends embrace. _Going to need some rather heavy explanations there,_ he reflects, and he does not relish the idea of explaining to Rose once again exactly how Jack came to be immortal. There will be no avoiding it, he knows that now, and of course to even make it to the explanations they’ll have to survive their imminent encounter with the Daleks. But he is confident they will be able to do all that, and more.

Because he’s the Doctor, reunited with Rose Tyler… but it’s not just the two of them any more. It’s become much bigger and better than that. Martha Jones is out there somewhere, still fighting to heal and protect the world she calls home. And Sarah Jane Smith, one of his oldest friends, her resolve strengthened by a mother’s love. Jack Harkness, who has seen more of time than most could imagine and who is literally ready for anything, still up to his old habits by eying the redhead in the corner. Donna Noble. She is so much more confident than when they first met, and one of the best friends in space and time. And yes, somewhere in time are Astrid and Jenny, as brave and resourceful as always. Someday he will find them again and thank them for giving him the strength he needed to do what was right. Together, this group of travelers makes an unstoppable team. The Children of Time.

And _that’s_ just as it should be.


End file.
